Hodmedod took a step forward. Joshua backed up. The others backed up with him.

“It’s incredible. It’s its own little town down here. How many people does this underground burg have?”

Joshua looked for a side tunnel or a large pipe, any avenue of escape. But there was none. There was only the way they came.

“It’s rather nice down here. Except for the smell. That is a stink. Do you know what I’m talking about? Or have you gotten used to it?”

He kept himself between Hodmedod and his friends. Whatever happened he wouldn’t let this monster near them. He took a step forward. His friends warned him not to in hushed whispers.

“What do they do down here if it’s raining really hard? Or worse if everyone flushes at once?”

Joshua felt the knives in his leather pouch.

Hodmedod saw him do this and stiffened.

“Now, I’ve already killed two full grown adults on my way down here. What do you think you’re going to do?”

He reached out with his thin hand. His twig like fingers wrapped around Joshua’s neck with a grip as hard as the Rat King’s.

“I’ll make you a deal. Come along quietly and I won’t hurt your friends. You make trouble and I’ll make pain. And I’m much better at making pain than you are at making trouble.”

Joshua started to go slack with despair. There was no escape.

Just then there was a roar at the other end of the tunnel. They all whipped there heads around to look.

They saw the Rat King’s massive form in silhouette at the other end. The edges of his shadow looked frayed and chewed. He rumbled forward like a wild bull.

“Now who is this?” Hodmedod asked.

“The Rat King!” they all shouted.

“The Rat What?”

With Hodmedod focused on the approaching giant, Joshua moved. His hand grabbed his knife and it flew out of its pouch.

He cut Hodmedod’s hand deeply, as easy as cutting a slab of meat. Hodmedod yelped and let him go.

“Run!”

The others poured past the stunned Hodmedod. The assassin swiped at Joshua as he ran down the tunnel.

“Boy!”

Before he could follow, the Rat King barreled down and crashed into him.

The two fought.

Joshua paused to watch.

The bloody, tattered Rat King threw Hodmedod against the wall with so much force Joshua was sure the thin man would snap like a twig.

Instead of snapping, Hodmedod bounced off the wall. He threw a punch in midair. The Rat King staggered backwards from the blow. The two battled in the tunnel and traded monstrous blows. The Rat King had arms like battering rams that crashed against Hodmedod’s thin chest. Hodmedod’s limbs were like iron chains that whipped and lashed the Rat King. Joshua was unable to look away.

Something touched his arm and he jerked back to reality. It was Benjamin.

“Come on. The exit. It’s this way!”

They caught up with the others and ran. Joshua stayed at the rear with his knife just in case. He heard the sounds of the battle in the tunnel behind.

Benjamin led them down one turn, then another. He hesitated at one junction then sped down the tunnel on the right. They all followed.

They reached a giant yawning pit with a narrow walkway around it. At one end of the walkway was a rope ladder. High above was a circle of weak light.

“What’s that light up top? That’s not bright enough to be sunlight,” Joshua said.

“It’s moonlight,” Lucinda exclaimed.

Joshua realized he’d lost all track of time down in the gloomy tunnels.

“Climb!”

They sent up Dina and Benjamin up first. She looped one arm around his neck and both her legs around his body. With her free arm she cradled the kitten.

“When this is over, she’s your responsibility,” Joshua said as he wagged a finger at her.

She kissed the top of the kitten’s head, then gave Joshua a quick peck on his cheek.

“Don’t you let her go,” Joshua told Benjamin.

“I won’t,” Benjamin said sincerely.

He climbed with Dina on his back. He moved quickly and steadily up the ladder, but Joshua thought he was moving too slow.

We have the others. What if the twins can’t climb? Lucinda and Sophie can’t carry them. Can Heathcliff? Will Benjamin have to come down again?

But the twins surprised him. They rushed forward and scrambled up the ladder. They moved faster than Joshua had ever seen before.

Sophie was next. She’d stopped trembling. She gripped the rope firmly and pulled herself forward.

Joshua looked up to check on the others. Benjamin was nearly halfway to the top with Dina still wrapped around his neck. The twins were just below him. Sophie was slower but steady as she climbed.

We’re still not going fast enough!

Lucinda started up when they heard a bellow from the tunnel.

“Where are you?”

Lucinda hurried up the ladder. Joshua stepped towards the tunnel with his knife. Heathcliff stood beside him with his reed pole clutched like a saber. Joshua pushed him back towards the ladder.

“Get up!”

“What about you?”

“Nevermind about me. I’ll be all right. I promise.”

Heathcliff stayed where he was.

Joshua pointed up.

“They’ll need you. Go!”

Heathcliff gritted his teeth and started up.

“You’d better be all right!” he shouted down.

Joshua turned to face whatever came out of the tunnel.

Out of the darkness came the thin wraith like figure of Hodmedod. Blood dripped from his spindly boney hands. His red eye glared at Joshua.

Joshua brought up his knife.

Hodmedod held up his stiletto.

“That’s wasn’t nice! That hurt. You want to know much it hurt?”

“Stay back,” Joshua warned.

Hodmedod took a stepped forward. His sneered.

“Or you’ll do what? Filet me?”

“I might.”

The assassin threw back his head and laughed heartily.

“A trout can’t stab you back.”

Joshua caught sight of something. It moved in the dark just behind Hodmedod, something as large as a bear.

The Rat King. Hodmedod doesn’t see him. Keep him talking.

***

Finally, Hodmedod thought. Time to put this nonsense to bed.

He moved slowly and arrogantly. He savored every step. The boy was in his power. No need to hurry things.

This one whelp had caused him more trouble than all his other targets combined. But now he was caught. He had no where to go. No more tricks.

“Actually a trout can stab you back,” Joshua said.

“Huh?”

Was the boy trying to delay the inevitable with small talk? Hodmedod had seen that many times before.

“The spines of the fins. You can poke yourself with them and they can break off inside your fingers.”

Maybe this wasn’t small talk. Hodmedod remembered why the boy was so valuable. Somehow, Lazlo Cippolini was inside that tiny noggin of his.

“Really?”

Hodmedod let him babble some more. Maybe he’d let something slip.

“It’s very painful.”

“You know this how?” Hodmedod asked, genuinely curious.

The boy smiled at him.

More false bravado.

Joshua laughed.

“I have no idea. Do you?”

The whelp’s taunting me. He knows how I’ve tried to figure him out. He’ll pay for that.

Hodmedod laughed back.

I’ll give you to Gorgette all right. But only after I’ve had some fun of my own.

“No, I don’t know. Though not for lack of trying.”

Hodmedod let out a guffaw. The Rat King inched closer and closer to him.

****

The Rat King wouldn’t to stay down. Nothing could keep him down. Not the boy’s treacherous poison, not his own pets that he had to crush with his bare hands, not this strange straw man before him. He was strength itself.

And nothing would stop him now. He’d break this puny twig man over his knee. He was strong, stronger than any foe the Rat King had faced before. But he wasn’t stronger than him.

He couldn’t be.

****

The Rat King sprang forward and tackled Hodmedod. The assassin spun around.

“You again!”

He dodged on that Rat King’s massive fist and thrust his stiletto under his arm pit. The giant still didn’t go down. Hodmedod cursed.

“Being stubborn, eh?”

Joshua ran for the ladder and climbed up. His friends were now already far ahead of him. In seconds he was up the first few rungs.

He glanced back down and saw Hodmedod stab the Rat King again.

Joshua climbed. He grabbed the next rung and pulled. Then the next and the next. His arms ached.

Hodmedod gave the Rat King one final stab to the heart. The large man toppled over with a shocked look on his face. Hodmedod had seen that look before many times. It was the face of a man convinced he was invincible suddenly discovering he was anything but.

“Now that he’s finally taken care of.”

Hodmedod looked up and saw Joshua struggle up the rope ladder. He laughed out loud. He’d over take him easily.

Hodmedod ran to the wall and looked for a spot to grip. But here was none. The wall was water slicked concrete, smooth as an egg shell. He’d have to use the ladder.

Hodmedod snorted.

It makes no difference.

He looked up. The boy was already halfway to the top. He decided to give him ten more seconds before he started, just to make it interesting.

Hodmedod ascended the ladder as quickly as a spider up its web. He grabbed rung after rung and flew upwards almost as if he could float on air. In seconds he closed in on his quarry.

“Where are you going, Joshua Sage?”

Joshua looked down. He saw Hodmedod racing to catch him. He checked on his friends. They were far ahead of him now, almost to the patch of moonlight above. He had to keep them safe from this monster below.

He took his knife and sawed at the rope. The twine resisted the blade. Joshua sawed and sawed with desperation.

Hodmedod laughed.

“You’ll never cut through with that thing!”

Hodmedod was only a few rungs away from his feet. He’d never out climb him. He had to cut the rope. There had to be a way.

There is, said the voice inside him.

The knife knows how to cut better than you. Just listen to it and let it guide you.

Joshua balked. This was no time for fantasy.

Hodmedod advanced another yard. One more leap and he’d have Joshua by the neck.

Now is the perfect time for fantasy. Reality doesn’t have anything good to offer!

Joshua closed his eyes. He felt the knife in his hand. He made a picture of the knife in his mind from the handle to the tip.

And the knife told him what to do.

His hand made one single swift slash and the knife went through both ropes.

Hodmedod fell into the darkness screaming.

Joshua watched the assassin fall into the dark pit below and disappear. He put his knife away and continued to climb. He reached the last rung and a dozen hands pulled him the rest of the way. They came out of a drain on a moonlit street in Rustington. They all hugged for a moment.

A boisterous street fair could be heard just a few blocks from them. Fireworks exploded overhead. A band played. People danced in the street. The cart vendors lined the street from end to end. Smells rolled over the air and into their nostrils, meats, pies, stews, soups, pastries, cakes, and candies.

They said nothing as they walked towards the sounds and smells.  They looks they shared with each other said all that was needed. Finally Joshua spoke up when he noticed their newest member lagging behind a little unsure of his place.

“Benjamin, you’re welcome to come with us.”

“Thanks. Where are you going?”

“Yeah, where are we going?” Heathcliff asked.

Joshua thought about that. He had to deal with Gorgette. There were still questions. Questions that the Lazlo inside of him wouldn’t or couldn’t answer. Who had warned him back in Cippolini’s study? Who had written those letters and had helped Cipollini and his father all those years ago? He had a long road ahead of him and no clear idea how he’d do it. He didn’t know if he could even bring his friends with him. It might be far too dangerous. But for now they were safe. For now they were alive.

“For right now, we’re going fair.”

A line of people danced passed them. Joshua joined the chain of people, followed by the others. And they all danced in the streets under the night skies.

THE END

“Hold!”

The man on the pulley stopped feeding the rope.

Sophie and Benjamin dangled less then a foot above the rats. The creatures leapt into the air and nipped at them with their sharp fangs. They shrieked wildly.

“Up!” commanded the Rat King.

The pulley operator dutifully tugged on the rope.

Sophie and Benjamin rose just out of reach of the gnawing rats. They kept ascending. Soon they were halfway back up the pit. Sophie and Benjamin both slouched in the ropes exhausted from terror. The rag man on the pulley kept hauling the line up and up.

Joshua and the others peered down at their friends with red, teary eyes.

Is he letting them go? Is he showing mercy?

One look at the giant’s cruel smiling face told Joshua different.

No! There’s no mercy in him!

The Rat King held up his hand again.

“Stop!” he ordered.

The man stopped pulling the rope.

Sophie and Benjamin stayed halfway between the pit’s mouth and the mass of famished rats down below.

“Down,” The Rat King commanded.

I have to stop him.

He closed his eyes and concentrated again. His head throbbed with pain, as if the blood inside his brain had boiled and would burst out of his scalp.

With his eyes shut so tight, Joshua saw nothing. But he heard.

He heard the creak of the pulley.

He heard Sophie and Benjamin scream weakly with the little breath they had left in their bodies.

He heard his friends sob.

And then he heard something different. It sounded like an animal letting out a low, lazy cry.

It was the Rat King yawning.

Joshua’s eyes shot open.

He looked towards the giant.

The tyrant stood slouched to one side.

Concentrate.

The corn lies in their stomachs. It digests slowly. Their stomachs tell their bodies to slow down as well. Their bodies slow, they get tired and sleepy. Concentrate. See it happen. Feel it. Push it forward. Take them from drowsy to unconscious.

The guard standing next to Joshua yawned. Then the one next to him. And then the next. The whole circle of rag men yawned and swayed on their feet. Then the first of them dropped and crashed to the floor. Then another. They snored loudly as they lay still on ground. One by one they fell.

“You!” said the bleary eyed Rat King. “I will break you!”

He tried to fight back with anger. But there was no force behind his voice.

“Poisoner!” he accused.

“No,” Joshua answered. “Chef!”

The Rat King swayed. He took a step forward, right to the edge of the pit.

“Don’t,” warned Joshua.

He couldn’t stop the process inside the Rat King. His own body rushed to slumber against his will. His knee buckled and the giant pitched towards the pit. His arm flayed about weakly to stop himself.  But it was too late.

He fell.

He shot past Sophie and Benjamin and landed with a soft thud down below. The black forms swarmed over his body.

“Don’t look,” Joshua yelled.

Dina, the twins, and Lucinda turned away

He’s dead. I killed him.

Joshua felt cold and sick inside.

There was only one underling still on his feet, as Joshua had planned. The rag man who held the rope in the pulley stood woozy but still awake. He began to nod off.

“Heathcliff!”

Heathcliff had already whipped out the halves of his reed pole and had reassembled them in the blink of an eye. He reached back and whipped it with all his might. The line flew across the pit and snagged Benjamin by the leg.

Benjamin let out a cry.

The minion on the rope collapsed to the floor. The rope ran through the pulley.

Benjamin and Sophie dropped.

Heathcliff pulled back on the line. Joshua and Lucinda leapt to his side and grabbed the pole. The three of them yanked hard.

“I meant grab the rope!” Joshua yelled

“This line will never hold both of them,” yelled Lucinda.

“It’ll hold!” Heathcliff promised.

They pulled.

Sophie and Benjamin fell. Then the line snapped taut. Joshua held his breath. He expected it to snap.

But it didn’t.

Sophie and Benjamin jerked to a stop just a few feet above the rats. The ravenous beasts leapt at them, snapping at them greedily. The line wrapped around Benjamin’s leg, the hook  caught on his pants.

“Pull us up!” he begged with a pained voice.

Joshua, Heathcliff and Lucinda pulled with every ounce of muscle they had. The line cut into their hands, nearly breaking the skin.

Benjamin and Sophie appeared over the edge of the pit. Joshua grabbed them and pulled them the rest of the way. They rolled onto the floor. Heathcliff untied them. They were both pale and sweating and had tiny cuts and teeth marks all over them. Benjamin had a spot of blood where the hook had snagged his pants. Joshua checked his leg. The hook had torn the skin of his leg but hadn’t embedded itself in his flesh.

Lucinda and Heathcliff hugged Sophie. Dina knelt before Benjamin. The red kitten poked her head out from Dina’s jacket and mewed softly.

“Thank you,” Benjamin muttered.

He looked around at the circle of sleeping men.

“Did you do this?” he asked Joshua.

“Yes.”

Joshua thought about it for a moment.

I did it.

Joshua found the rag man with his knives. He took them and their leather pouch and returned them to his side. Their weight reassured him.

The circle of rag men lay quietly slumbering.

“You put something in their food?” Heathcliff asked.

“It was just food,” Joshua answered.

“Then how?” Lucinda asked.

“I’ll tell you later. First let’s get out of here.”

He pointed to the black curtain.

“Do we have to go back that way?” Joshua asked Benjamin.

“No,” he answered. “There’s a shorter way.”

He pointed to a black tunnel off to the side.

“It’s just a few turns and then there’s a rope ladder that leads to the surface.”

They ran down the tunnel. They stopped after a few minutes. Sophie needed some time to recover. Benjamin claimed he was fine but sat next to her anyway. Lucinda dabbed their heads with a dap cloth.

“This is the way I told you before,” Benjamin explained. “It’s the most direct route back to the surface. The Rat King uses it when he wants to go up top and grab some new subjects.”

Benjamin chuckled.

“He used it, I should say.”

Joshua flinched. Maybe Benjamin was happy the Rat King was dead but it wasn’t something he cared to dwell on.

“We couldn’t go this way before because obviously we’d run right into him and his little pit.”

Sophie got back on her feet. She still wobbled quite badly.

“Are you sure you’re all right? You don’t need anymore rest?” Joshua asked.

“We can’t stay here,” Sophie shot back.

Her voice was sharp and fearful.

The others looked back towards the pit.

“We have plenty of time. Those men will sleep for at least another hour.”

Despite his assurances, nobody wanted to stay down below a second longer. Sophie and Benjamin got to their feet and they continued onwards.

“You’re positive you know the way?” Joshua asked Benjamin.

“Of course,” Benjamin declared. “You’ve nothing to worry about with me as your guide!”

There was the old arrogance in his voice. But when he smiled this time all he revealed was a top row of bloody gums. He quickly covered up his mouth and marched on in silence.

Up ahead the tunnel forked in three different directions. Benjamin halted. He looked from one to the other confused.

“So which way is it?” Joshua asked.

Benjamin didn’t answer.

“Don’t you know?”

“Of course I do,” Benjamin said defiantly.

Joshua felt Dina tug at his arm.

“Don’t be cross. Give him time.”

“Right. No hurry,” Joshua said.

He glanced back at the tunnel.

There was no hurry. All the rag men were behind them, fast asleep. He knew they’d slumber a long time. And the Rat King…

He didn’t want to think about the Rat King. Yes he’d been unspeakably cruel to Joshua, his friends, and Benjamin. He’d enslaved, tortured and killed dozens of innocent people down here in this twisted kingdom. But Joshua still didn’t feel better about causing his death.

Then he heard a small thump. He tried to find its source. Joshua stared back down the long corridor back towards the terrible rat pit. There was nothing there.

The others seemed unconcerned. Joshua was sure he’d heard a sound.

“Have you got it figured out yet?” he asked.

“Almost. I’m more anxious to get out of here than you,” Benjamin said.

He then pointed to the far right tunnel.

“This way.”

They walked quickly. They crawled over metal pipes and had to splash through a freezing waterfall.

“It’s just up ahead,” Benjamin promised.

He led them down a long concrete shaft.

“Is there anyone guarding the exit?” Joshua asked.

“No. They were all back there.”

“Then who’s that?” Heathcliff asked.

He pointed ahead.

They halted immediately.

A shadow blocked the way forward. It was as thin as a lamppost.

“That’s not a rag man,” Benjamin said.

No, it’s worse, Joshua thought.

“It’s him!” Sophie yelled.

Joshua stepped in front of everyone. He put himself between them and the advancing assassin.

“Hodmedod!”

“At your service, Joshua.”

Sophie and Benjamin were pulled through the black curtain. Joshua remembered the poor man in the yellow shirt. They never saw what had happened to him. They only heard his tortured pleas, the ominous creaking and then finally those haunting screams.

He remembered his plan and tried to focus his thoughts.

Will this work if I can’t see them? Will this work at all?

The curtain parted. The Rat King stood there and glared back at Joshua.

He bellowed, “Bring them. Let them watch!”

The rag men shoved them forward.

Joshua looked down at Dina.

“Stay close to me.”

She attached herself to Joshua’s hip.

“It’ll be all right,” he told her.

I can make it right. I just have to focus.

He concentrated harder.

The twisted men pushed them into the darkness past the black curtain. Beyond was a circular chamber ringed with brass braziers. In the center was a pit. Above the pit was a rusty pulley strung with a frayed old rope.

“Now you will see,” the Rat King roared.

These children needed to be shown his terrible strength. They had to understand what defying that strength meant.

From the day he was born he’d been stronger and bigger than anyone else. Nature meant for him to rule over all the others. Laws and rules were what the weak hid behind. He tossed them aside as he did anyone else who got in his way. The constables of the city knew this was true. That’s why they never bothered him when he lived on the surface. Back then he took whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. It took those cowards banding together in treachery to force him down here into these tunnels. But even after that he wasn’t defeated. Far from it. He reached out from the tunnels and grabbed as many as he could and in the darkness he forged his own kingdom. He made this kingdom with his own two fists and placed himself at the top where he always belonged. The only laws were the ones he laid down. Here people had only the rights he gave them. He could deny them the sun itself. Nothing could withstand his strength, not law, not society, nothing.

Certainly not these pathetic whelps.

“Bring them forward!” he yelled.

The Rat King stood at the edge of the pit.

The rag men pushed the children to the edge of the pit.

“Look down!”

They looked.

At first all they could see was black. Then they saw the movement. The blackness below them squirmed. Then they could see form and texture in the black. They saw the rolling mass of fur, teeth and red eyes. And then they heard the low evil squeaking noise as it came up the pit.

“Rats!” Sophie screamed.

“Yes,” said the giant.

“When I came down here, this was their kingdom. And they defended it with a hundred thousand ravenous mouths with sharp teeth. I beat them back with nothing but these two hands. Their bodies I crushed until they were thick under foot. The survivors I cast down into the pit below you. Now this is MY kingdom. And here is the penalty for breaking my law!”

The Rat King pointed at Benjamin and Sophie.

The rag men took them to the pulley and tied them together.

“Time to feed the pit!”

Benjamin and Sophie both screamed.

Dina screamed even louder. Joshua hugged her tightly to him.

“It’ll be all right.”

He concentrated.

He saw Sophie’s terrified face.

You think you can save her with just some boiled corn and daydreams? Are you insane?

But he thought harder.

No. This will work. Just focus. Think. Concentrate.

Sophie and Benjamin were swung out over the pit, their feet kicked wildly as they dangled in midair. The rag man on the rope lowered them slowly. The terrible creaking noise returned.

Concentrate.

The pulley creaked. Sophie and Benjamin screamed as they went lower and lower beneath the lip.

Concentrate.

They sank towards the mass of hungry teeth.

Lazlo, please help me.

The rope slipped down another inch and then another.

Sophie and Benjamin were now just a hair away from the rolling mass of black fur. Just a few turns of the pulley and they’d be engulfed.

This isn’t going to work! I failed!

His heart raced. What was going to happen to them? His imagination ran wild with all kinds of terrors. He looked at the others and saw the same fear in their faces, fear made worse by the unknown. He looked at Benjamin who lay on the floor near convulsions, unable to move as he blubbered uncontrollably.

He knows what’s going to happen to us!

The Rat King appeared from behind the black curtain. He stomped towards them.

“What’s this?” he bellowed.

The huge man focused on Benjamin and plucked him out of the pack as if her were a pup. Benjamin shrank up into a ball in the Rat King’s grip.

“When I found you, you were a miserable heap of nothingness. I spared you. More than spared, I raised you up to be among my wolves. I could have made you a sheep!”

Benjamin weakly mumbled an apology.

The Rat King threw him down with a thud.

“Please sir, we meant no harm,” Joshua said.

“No harm? You tried to run away!”

“It’s not that sir. We- we-“

Sophie spoke up, “It’s the cage. We’re not used to being locked up. We’re street urchins. Up there we were free to go wherever. Like birds, sir. Now you’ve caught us and we are yours. But it takes us a while to break our old habits.”

The Rat King stood over her. Sophie shrieked and curled up into a tiny ball. He could have crushed her with a single step.

“You were running away!” he shouted.

He was like a volcano erupting with pure hatred. Joshua knew he had to calm him somehow.

You know how, said the voice inside him.

Could he really do this? It was now their only hope. But first he had to get back to the kitchen.

His stomach churned with fear. Every one of his limbs was numb. He could only get himself to stand up through sheer will.

He pleaded, “No, sir. We were preparing the feast. In fact it’s almost ready, sir. Honest.”

The Rat King looked down at him but didn’t say anything. He rubbed his jutting chin. His tongue licked his grey lips.

Joshua said, “It will be the most amazing meal you’ve ever had, sir. I promise. Roasted meet, sweet corn mush, candied vegetables.”

The Rat King jerked his head towards the tunnel.

“Go.”

Joshua brought Dina up with him.

“She stays,” the Rat King said.

Joshua complained, “I need her. You’ve got my entire staff. She’s my sous.”

He looked down at his other friends still prostrate on the ground. He wanted to apologize. He could only take one of them and he didn’t want Dina’s kitten discovered. He could see on their faces that they all understood.

It’s all right. Go on, they told him without speaking.

Joshua walked with Dina towards the tunnel. No one moved to stop them. Two rag men followed them.

Joshua hurried with Dina and the unseen kitten back towards their prison cell. The pair rag men were just a few steps behind.

He glanced down at Dina. The kitten was still bundled inside her jacket. It hadn’t let out a peep as if sensing the danger. It looked back up at Joshua with great green eyes not unlike Dina’s own.

“Keep him out of sight,” Joshua warned.

“It’s a girl.”

“Keep her out of sight.”

They ducked into the cell. The rag men waited for them outside. Joshua hoped his food somehow wasn’t burnt to a crisp.

Joshua checked on the cracked corn which stewed in the pot. The corn had simmered the whole time. It was thick as pudding. The corn pieces had absorbed all the water and many of them had burst into a sweet mush. Joshua stirred the mixture and felt it stick on the bottom. He didn’t mind. He had planned to let it burn a little on the bottom to give a toasted flavor to the rest of the mush. He checked on the meat roasting over the braziers. The long cooking had rendered them crisp and tender with a smoky flavor that went well with the mush. The vegetables had been slightly off the fire. They were fine. Even better their juices had cooked down into syrup. It was perfect.

Perfect for eating. But could it really set them free?

Joshua calmed himself. He remembered the words in Lazlo’s book.

“Food is a direct connection to the soul.”

If his soul wasn’t calm, this wouldn’t work.

He dumped the mush, the meat and the vegetables into large pans.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the feast. He could picture the food. He pictured the Rat King and his underlings eating it. He pictured what he wanted the food to do once it was in their stomachs.

He waved to the rag men and they came inside. One grabbed the pot of corn, one the pan of roasted meat. Joshua picked up the pot of vegetables. They left the kitchen and headed back to the throne room.

Nothing had changed since they’d left. The guards still stood in a circle around the others. Lucinda, the Twins, Heathcliff, Sophie, and Benjamin, they were all still there cowering on the floor.

Joshua and the two minions set the pots before the towering Rat King.

“Here sir. Here is the feast for you and your men,” Joshua said.

The Rat King dug in with his bare hands. He scooped up the piping hot mush without feeling any pain. He moved on to the meat. He picked up a whole roasted rat and lowered into his great gaping maw. He bit down and ate the whole thing, bones and all. He picked up a few glazed carrots and tossed them into his mouth. He licked his hands clean then started again. Another handful of corn, another whole beast bones and all, a few candied vegetables at the end. After he’d eaten nearly half the feast his minions came and took their share. Joshua kept his eyes closed and concentrated. He pictured in his head what was happening.

The food travels down to their stomachs. There it sits.

The Rat King patted his belly.

“You have pleased me boy. I won’t punish you.”

He seized Benjamin by the scruff of the neck.

“This one however!”

He tossed Benjamin towards the black curtain.

“No!” Joshua yelled.

The Rat King whirled back on him. His promise of mercy forgotten.

“No?” the Rat King Bellowed. “You dare say ‘no’ to me? Maybe you need another lesson.”

He pointed at Sophie.

“The silver tongue. Bring her as well.”

He found the site of the battle. The gangs had long since been hauled away to prison. There were still a handful of the combatants wandering the streets, Brickbats, Attendants, and Constables with scrambled brains and battered senses. He found the spot where he fell off the wall. The street was hard cobblestones but there were still plenty of tracks and signs for him to decipher.

Here’s where those apes picked me and the boy up. Here’s where they loaded us both into that cart. Here’s where Joshua got off, with what looks to be help from his gangly friend. The two of them went this way. The blonde girl went back towards Dreamer’s Garden.

Hodmedod followed Joshua and Heathcliff’s trail. It lead him through Rustington and across Jane’s Bridge. He was at the Red Hen when Hodmedod thought to check for the ring. He discovered it was gone and cursed loudly. Gorgette would have been furious with him. Fortunately the chef was unaware that Hodmedod had the ring in the first place.

He picked up the trail again and followed it back across Jane’s Bridge and into a side alley. The blonde girl’s tracks reappeared here and the three of them headed back towards Rustington.

Hodmedod followed. By this time night faded fast. Dawn began to break. The trail snaked back towards the warehouse district. That’s when he ran into another delay.

When he saw the large groups of men in the early morning hours he knew right away they weren’t workers off to the factory.

Not taking any chances this time Hodmedod scurried up the side of the wall. He found a safe perch and watched the battle unfold.

The men were thugs and soldiers of rival gangs. They carried clubs, chains, knives and a few pistols.

Hodmedod hunkered down for safety. He’d have to wait until the issue was decided.

The gangs clashed as gangs do; without any order or plan. One gang charged and screamed. The other turned tail and ran until their courage rose up in their bodies. They turned and charged themselves. The attackers would suddenly lose their nerve and flee in the opposite direction. Then they’d rediscover their own nerves and turn back to attack. And so the two gangs took turns chasing each other from one end to the other with hardly a blow being stuck or a shot fired. After a while Hodmedod longed to see them smash and bash each other.

“Makes you appreciate the Brickbats and those guys in the grey coats,” he said to no one in particular.

Thinking about the Brickbats, Hodmedod reflected that this latest delay was partly his fault. If he’d simply slipped out of the warehouse, this wouldn’t have happened. These pathetic cowards wouldn’t be pathetically jousting for the now empty criminal throne. But Wormsworth was dead.

Thanks to yours truly.

Hodmedod had always admired Wormsworth from a distance. He’d never dreamed that he’d be the one to kill him. But in person the man was just too insufferable.

After the battle finally ended, Hodmedod followed the trail back to the abandoned Charity Kitchen. He checked the building top to bottom but didn’t find them. He searched the grounds until he found the concrete drain and dark pipe. A scrape of cloth was stuck to its edge. Hodmedod saw it was the same material as Joshua’s cotton jacket.

Could they have headed underground to avoid him? Were they that desperate? If that had been their intention it was a futile effort.

He started into the tunnel. Hodmedod could see in the blackest night without waiting for his eyes to adjust. He’d gone only a short distance when he smelled the kerosene lamp ahead of him. He froze and listened. Just a few feet away he heard the grunt. The air was just a tad warmer than it should be.

There’s a man standing a few yards away with a hooded lantern. A guard? Here? What could he be guarding?

He took out his stiletto and moved silently forward. The other man never knew he was coming.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m worried about the kitty. She sounded so sweet and so lost.”

“You aren’t worried about us?” he asked her.

“You’ll do something. You always do.”

He patted her on the head and went back to his new kitchen. Lucinda and the twins had already fashioned a new vent out of rags and scraps of cardboard.

They heard a cackling laugh in the distance and cringed as it got closer.

Hook Nose returned. He tossed two pieces of metal through the bars. Joshua picked them up. They were remnants of some knife or tool. There was barely an edge left on them.

“Here are your knives, you. Get to work. His majesty expects a feast,” Said Hook Nose.

“These wouldn’t cut butter,” Joshua protested.

“You make them work,” Hook Nose growled back.

“What about ingredients?” He gestured at the bench the meager stores. “Is this all you have?”

“You’ll get more. Fresh meat.”

Joshua could practically see Hook Nose’s evil smile beneath his face wrappings. It made him sick.

“Fresh meat? From where?” he asked.

Hook Nose jabbed a boney finger to the corner. A furry grey rat scurried across the floor. Sophie screamed.

“Sewer rats aren’t safe to eat,” Joshua warned.

“There’ll be more than rats. Anything with four legs is to be caught and killed and put on the table.”

“No!” cried Dina.

“Dina, hush.”

Hook Nose gave the bars a swift kick then shuffled off. After he left Joshua saw the smaller rag man standing in the corner. He said nothing, just stood there and watched.

“You. Who are you?” Joshua asked.

Their guard looked nervously down the tunnel as if he feared Hook Nose would hear. He brought a finger to the side of his nose.

He’s telling me to be quiet?

Incensed Joshua mouthed the words, “Why should I be quiet?”

The small rag man tiptoed to the bars. He took off the rags around his head revealing a familiar face.

“Benjamin Bastion! I might have known you’d end up down here with the rest of the filth. And you’re still a bully. How many people did you beat today?”

Benjamin just stared back silently. Joshua noticed the flesh around his eye was purple and badly swollen. His lower lip was split and covered with dried blood.

They heard Hook Nose’s cackle as he returned. Benjamin quickly wrapped his face and backed away from the cell.

Hook Nose reappeared with two bulging sacks over his hunched back. He handed the sacks to Benjamin who struggled with their weight. Hook Nose fumbled with the key and opened the door.

“Back away! All of you,” he warned. Then he grabbed the sacks from Benjamin and tossed them inside.

Inside one were pots and pans and pieces of coal for the brazier.

“What’s in the other?” Joshua asked.

“Told you you’d be getting fresh meat,” Hook Nose taunted.

Joshua opened the bag. Out spilled the carcasses of several small animals now skinned and sliced in half.

The others winced and gagged.

Dina looked at them mournfully.

“The kitty?” she asked.

Joshua examined the pile. There were all sorts there. He couldn’t tell if one of them was cat.

“Meow,” Hook Nose taunted. He laughed and meowed as he shuffled down the tunnel and out of sight. Benjamin stayed behind.

Dina started to cry.

“I’m sorry, Dina,” Joshua said.

He got to work. His plan started to form.

It’s madness, he thought. There’s no way it can work.

But part of him, the Lazlo part assured him it would.

You just have to cook and then concentrate.

He piled the brazier with more coals. He set the carcasses on spits and roasted them over the fire. He put the feed corn in a pot with water and simmered. He scraped off every bit of mold on the root vegetables and threw them into a pan to cook and caramelize.

He looked at the roasting meat. Most of them were rats. He could tell by their long tails which were still attached. But the others he couldn’t be certain. He checked for anything that looked like cat’s claws but found none.

“Dina, I don’t think any of these are your kitty,” he said.

She didn’t answer.

Joshua turned around to look for her.

Lucinda and the twins adjusted the vent over the brazier to accommodate for the additional smoke. Sophie and Heathcliff stacked the remaining supplies and looked for anything useful.

Where’s Dina?

Dina was crouched next to the bars talking in hushed tones to Benjamin Bastion.

Benjamin Bastion!

Joshua flew across the room and shoved him away.

“Stay away from her!” he yelled.

Benjamin looked up at him. His eyes were red. He was crying.

Then Joshua heard something meow.

It wasn’t the mocking of Hook Nose. It was a sweet tiny little meow.

Joshua looked down at Dina and saw her cradle a tiny reddish kitten in her arms.

They both looked at Benjamin.

“Thank you,” Dina said.

Joshua couldn’t reconcile the Benjamin Bastion he knew with this act.

“Why?”

Benjamin fumbled for words. He let the rags fall from his face. It was then Joshua saw Benjamin now had bloody gums where his front teeth used to be.

“It’s not what I wanted,” Benjamin mumbled.

None of this was what Benjamin Bastion had ever wanted.

After being beaten and kicked by his own gang, his own friends, Benjamin thought the worst had been over. His Little Voice warned him that it was just beginning.

He was only vaguely aware when they dragged him to the drain in the center of the warehouse. Benjamin knew about the drain. Once while waiting outside the warehouse he heard a terrified scream from within. When he entered the drain was uncovered. One of Wormsworth’s thugs said a man had gone in alive and conscious. Benjamin shuddered when he heard.

He didn’t shudder as he lay there on the floor while the large drain cover was flipped open for him. He could barely move.

He made only a weak sound as they rolled him into the hole and let him drop.

He fell. He didn’t know how far. It was utterly black all around.

Then he hit the water. It was freezing cold and fast moving.

The cold revived him but drove the air from his chest.

He hurtled along with the current.

Benjamin started to lose consciousness. He thought he was dying and for once his Little Voice was in total agreement with him.

The world went black and he thought he would never see anything again.

But he woke later. He was in a tunnel. Next to him the water rushed by. Above him stood the twisted men wrapped in rags.

When he could walk they took him to the Rat King’s throne. The King regarded him like a stray mongrel.

“What were you up there?” he asked pointing at the ceiling.

“I was a thug,” Benjamin mumbled through his broken teeth.

This brought out howls of laughter from the King and his followers.

“It’s true!” Benjamin protested.

“I was a miserable little thug. I beat up children to get money and valuables from them.”

He wiped his eyes with his wet sleeve.

He told them about every boy and girl he beat. The details just spilled out of his mouth. He wasn’t bragging, he was confessing. He’d never before admitted to himself what he had really done. He’d told himself he wasn’t “beating up children” he was simply educating them. They weren’t his “victims” they were his “customers.” Part of him always knew that was a lie. He’d called it his annoying Little Voice. But now, bloodied and at the feet of the Rat King he realized that it was his own voice that had been saying those things. It was his own voice he’d been trying to ignore and muffle this whole time.

He was done with that now. When his Little Voice spoke it would be out loud.

When he was done confessing, the Rat King slapped his thigh and guffawed.

“A little wolf cub,” he said. “I have need of wolves. They watch my sheep.”

Benjamin shook his head, refusing to go back to what he’d been.

“You’ll do it!” yelled the Rat King. “There are only wolves and sheep down here. Trust me boy, you don’t want to be one of my sheep.”

Benjamin trembled before the bellowing giant. His fear got the better of him and he agreed. His wet clothes were taken away and he was given the rags of the Rat King’s soldiers to wrap around his body and his face.

He was assigned to Hook Nose and they went around from tunnel to tunnel. Inside he found the “sheep” the Rat King had talked about. People huddled over weak braziers for warmth. They’d spent the days combing the tunnels for whatever refuse they could scrounge. The Rat King’s men would come by in the evening and take their share. If the wretches were lucky, they’d have enough left over to survive the night. It was all too painfully familiar to Benjamin.

The poor wretches were timid as church mice. They’d cower at just a raised voice.

Hook Nose did a lot more than raise his voice. He whipped and kicked and beat these people at slightest excuse. Often he’d deliver a beating for no reason at all.

Benjamin hung back and watched and grew sicker and sicker. Hook Nose would turn his fists on him for his lack of enthusiasm.

After his first day down below, all Benjamin wanted was to return to the surface. But he knew what that would mean. He’d been with Hook Nose when he caught a poor man who tried to escape.

“No sun for you!” Hook Nose cackled over and over again. “No sun for anyone ever again!”

It was then that he heard that a group of soldiers were headed towards the surface to find the boy that cooks.

Joshua, Benjamin thought.

Joshua Sage, the boy who could cook, the boy who fed the poor, the boy who stood up to him. He was the reason he was down here suffering. It wasn’t fair. He should be here too and share the torment. Benjamin wanted to see Joshua before the Rat King.

He managed to tag along with the hunting party. A small red kitten was spared from the Rat King’s dinner to act as bait. Benjamin was given the job of holding the kitten since she hissed and scratched the others who tried to carry her.

Benjamin followed the party through the maze of pipes and tunnels. Scouts sent ahead would peak through the city’s drains and report back to the main group.

They came to the pipe near the Charity Kitchen. Benjamin crept forward just to the point where he could see the daylight on the other side. Just a few yards away was freedom and sunlight. Benjamin’s heart ached to run for it. But he felt the breath of the other men right on his back. He’d never make it.

He held up the kitten and it let out a pathetic little meow. He heard the small girl answer it.

“Kitty?”

Benjamin’s heart sank when he heard her sweet, innocent voice answer the kitten’s pleading cry. He wanted to yell out to her to run away but he couldn’t.

All he could do was watch with the kitten cradled softly in his hands as the little girl wandered into the tunnel and was grabbed by the others. The two little boys followed her. Then the two older girls came. He remembered the short plump one from before. He’d pushed her down before at the Charity Kitchen, not far from this very spot. The other girl he didn’t recognize. She was thin and pretty with golden curly hair. She was still pretty even after she tried to escape down the small pipe and come out covered in grime. They put the golden haired girl with the rest of them in a corner. The twisted rag covered men surrounded and taunted them. They hugged each other close and cried.

Benjamin cried too. He wanted to tell them he was sorry. He didn’t want any of them to be hurt. He just wanted to see Joshua. He wanted the boy responsible for his downfall to know what it felt like.

They sent the golden haired girl away to fetch Joshua and Benjamin was sent back along with Hook Nose.

He kept the kitten hidden beneath his rags. No one bothered to ask him to return it. He kept it with him, not knowing what he’d do with it.

The next day he was summoned along with Hook Nose to the throne room. There was Joshua along with all his friends. He looked scared and miserable. But Benjamin didn’t feel any better. All he’d done was spread his misery to seven others. They should be up on the surface, playing in the sun. So should the kitten he kept hidden beneath his rags. So did the wretches who toiled for the Rat King’s pleasure. Benjamin could think of only one who deserved to be down here in the dark with these mad, cruel men. That was Benjamin himself.

That’s why he gave the kitten to Dina. That’s why he cried while he tried to explain to Joshua and the others.

“I just wanted to do something nice. Something right.”

Benjamin blubbered uncontrollably. Joshua suddenly realized he didn’t really know Benjamin Bastion at all.

“I want to go back,” Benjamin cried.

“We all do,” Joshua said.

He thought about telling Benjamin his plan. It was so insane he’d probably laugh at it. But just then they heard a voice screech.

“What’s this?”

Hook Nose returned. He grabbed Benjamin by the neck and shook him.

“What have you been doing, boy?”

The kitty let out another tiny mew.

Hook Nose whirled around.

“That’s for the dinner pot!”

Hook Nose shot his arm through the bars. Dina retreated out of reach with the kitten. Hook Nose cursed at her and jammed the key into the padlock.

“You’ll be sorry! You’ll be sorry!”

The lock popped. Hook Nose kicked open the door. He was halfway inside when Benjamin yelled.

Hook Nose turned around.

WHAM!

Benjamin brought a large rock down on the man’s head. Hook Nose fell back and lay sprawled on the floor of the cell motionless.

They all stood silently stunned for a moment.

“Run!” Benjamin yelled.

They scrambled out the cell. Joshua was the last to leave.

What about his plan?

It was crazy anyway, he told himself. It never would have worked.

“Which way?” he asked.

“That way!” Benjamin pointed down the tunnel.

They ran as fast as they could.

“You know the way out?” asked Sophie.

“Yes. But it’s a long way off.”

“Isn’t there a closer way?” Heathcliff asked.

Benjamin shook his head.

“You’d have to go past the throne and the-“

Benjamin didn’t get to finish his sentence because just then a line of rag men stepped out of the shadows and blocked their way.

They turned but another line of guards approached from the other end.

They were trapped.

Might as well get the kitchen in order.

He checked the cell. It was twenty feet from the bars to the brick wall. The wall had a few cracks and holes. The largest was barely large enough to squeeze his fist through. The small coal brazier filled the tunnel with smoke. Along the wall was a long wooden bench. There were two bags of hard feed corn, a basket full of moldy turnips, potatoes and carrots, jars of pickles, some tins of fish, soup and biscuits.

He looked for something to act as a can opener and found a short length of iron bar and a small piece of brick. He chiseled open seven tins, one for each of them; two of the biscuits, one tuna fish, three tomato bisque, and two consommé. He handed one to each of his friends.

“Eat up,” he said and sipped his cold consommé.

They sipped and chewed listlessly. He needed to get them up, get them busy. He couldn’t let them sit there and sulk.

“See if you can vent that brazier,” Joshua said to Lucinda and the twins.

Lucinda looked at him as if he were insane. She seemed like she would shriek at any moment. The twins both got up and gently led her away.

He walked over to Heathcliff who nibbled a dry biscuit.

“Where’s your reed pole? You didn’t really leave it behind did you?”

“Of course not.”

Heathcliff blinked as if roused from deep slumber. He got up and padded his body. He reached behind his back and pulled out the two halves of the pole.

“I’m always prepared.”

He reassembled the pole and strung it with line.

“Do you want me to get something? Fish? Oh the poison fish. You’re going to poison them.”

“No.” It wasn’t a terrible idea except for one detail.  “There’s no way you can get to the river.”

“What then?”

“It just makes me feel better knowing that you have it. Keep it hidden for now.”

Joshua checked on Sophie. She was hunched over and sobbing. She hadn’t touched her tomato bisque. Joshua knelt close to her.

“It’ll be okay,” he told her.

He picked up the can of bisque, dipped his finger in and tasted it. It had a tinny, sour taste. It would have been vile if he weren’t near starving.

“Get this down. It’s not much but it will keep your stomach full,” he told her.

“I’m sorry,” Sophie wept.

“What?”

Sophie babbled, “I kept telling you all those stories about the Rat King. And then he came for us. And he-”

Her eyes were wide and watery. Her voice got higher and higher.

“Stop it, Sophie,” Joshua said firmly.

“You are not responsible for the Rat King being real,” Lucinda assured her.

“That’s not your fault,” said Ollie.

“That’s just bad luck,” finished Rollie.

“It’s not your fault,” piped Dina. “It’s mine.”

Dina gripped the bars of the cage and stared out. Joshua moved over to her.

“Dina.”

“You wouldn’t be down here if I hadn’t followed that kitty.”

“This is no one’s fault.”

No, if it was anyone’s fault it was his. Him and his gift. They were all down here because of him. He had to get them out. But how? All he could do was cook food.

But you can do more than just cook food, can’t you?

The idea came into his head so clearly it was like someone had spoken, someone other than Joshua.

Lazlo? Lazlo Cippolini.

Was it the old man? Or was it just his own mind giving him an answer where there had been none before? He couldn’t be sure. But the voice inside his head went on.

You can make food do what you want it too. Corn, meat, garlic. You have all that you need. You can make these humble ingredients do whatever you wish. You could make a meal fit for a king, but that’s child’s play. You can make these ingredients do anything.  Anything your soul desires. What does your soul desire?

That was obvious. He wanted freedom.

Then make it free you.

The voice inside faded away.

“Wait,” Joshua called out.

Everyone looked at him.

“What is it?” Lucinda asked.

Joshua shook his head. The voice was gone. Somehow he knew it wouldn’t come back. He had to figure the rest out on his own.

The rag men spread out and pushed the serfs towards the throne. The huddled, wretched people cowered before the King’s massive figure. They wept and muttered. Meek voices called out for mercy.

The Rat King paced back and forth.

“Anyone who tries to leave…”

He stopped in front of one man. He was on his hands and knees with his head bowed. He wore an ill fitting yellow shirt with sleeves that covered his hands and a floppy red cap.

“Anyone who tries to leave will suffer!”

The man in the yellow shirt quivered so violently Joshua thought he would shake apart. The Rat King plucked the man off the ground as easy as he had Joshua. The King’s minions swarmed forward. Half of them followed the Rat King as he carried the poor man past his throne and behind the black curtain. The man screamed with every step. The other half formed a wall in front of the throne to prevent anyone from interfering. No one tried.

The Rat king and the man disappeared behind the black curtain. Joshua and the others watched tensely. They heard the man’s tortured pleas. Then they heard a slow constant creaking sound. The man’s pleas got louder and more desperate.

Then both the voice and the creaking stopped for a moment.

Joshua watched the black curtain, anxious to hear something.

What happened? What are they doing back there?

Then they heard a bloody scream so loud Joshua was sure the sound made it all the way to the surface. His friends covered their ears and tried to stop the terrible sound. Sophie screamed to drown out the noise with her own voice. Heathcliff joined her. Finally the screams died away.

The Rat King and his underlings returned from behind the black curtain. The man in the yellow shirt was no longer with them. The giant strode towards Joshua. His steps thundered in the chamber.

“No one ever leaves here,” he growled.

He pointed to two of his minions. One was hunchbacked with a crooked nose that peeked out from his black and purple wrappings. The other was smaller, only a little bigger than Joshua.

“You two, take them to the kitchen!” The Rat King ordered.

Joshua looked for his knives. One of the rag men still held his leather pouch.

“I’ll need my knives,” he said.

“You’ll work with what we give you,” the Rat King warned. “Now take them to the kitchens! I want my dinner prepared! And it had better be wonderful!”

The two minions hustled Joshua and the others out of the throne room and down another tunnel. The hunchbacked one with the crooked nose took the lead. The smaller one hung back behind them to make sure no one ran for it.

Joshua looked back several times at the small guard. He couldn’t be much older than they were. Like all the Rat King’s soldiers, the boy had rags wrapped around head which hid his face. Still there was something familiar about him. He walked with a sad slouch. He didn’t seem to be trying too hard to prevent their escape. Joshua considered running for it.

But the only thing back that way is the Rat King’s throne room.

Besides, even if they somehow managed to evade the Rat King and his minions, Joshua had no idea where they were. They could wander around lost in the sewers for days.

Hook Nose brought them to a side tunnel with bars and a padlocked door which sealed it. The tunnel dead ended in a brick wall several yards back. It was barely lit by a smelly grease lamp that hung from the ceiling. A coal brazier smoldered in the corner.

Hook Nose worked the key into the squeaky padlock and opened the door.

“Your kitchen, chef.”

They filed inside and sat down on the hard floor. Hook Nose slammed the door behind them and snapped the padlock closed.

The hunchback cackled and hobbled away. He grabbed the small underling by the arm and dragged him along.

“Come along you worthless pile of beetle droppings!”

Hook Nose berated the boy as they walked. In a few minutes they disappeared down the tunnel and Joshua and his friends were left alone, locked inside a cell beneath the city.

Joshua watched the great figure as it moved towards them. He heard a voice prattle behind him. It was Sophie.

“The Rat King. No one knows his real name. But he was a cruel hulk of a man. He took a young girl as his wife. One day he beat her to death. His enraged neighbors chased him into the sewers and there he stayed.”

Why is she telling that story now?

Joshua heard a thump. He turned back to the Rat King. He walked towards them slowly. The sound was his enormous boot as it came down on the stone floor. Another loud thump echoed throughout the underground hall as the King took another step.

Sophie continued her story.

“For years after that, people would disappear, men women, children. They all said it was cutthroats or foreigners. But in reality it was the Rat King, building his kingdom one victim at a time. The meanest and cruelest of his captives he made into his minions. The others cowered in the tunnels as his servants, afraid to even look him in the eye, lest he crush their skulls with his bare hands.”

Joshua was about to tell her to be quiet. But he saw the panic in her face. She told the story because somehow she hoped that she could control it some way.

The Rat King lumbered towards them. He towered above them and leered down.

Sophie finished in a hushed voice.

“And so he rules the sewers beneath the city to this day. He’s a fearsome figure. Powerful and cruel. But he keeps his word.”

The last bit she said as a kind of a prayer.

The Rat King pointed at Joshua who was prostrate before him.

“You,” he bellowed. “Are you the boy who can cook?”

Joshua swallowed hard before he answered.

“I am.”

“Good,” said the Rat King. His voice rumbled like an earthquake. “I have a very big appetite. I eat five meals a day.”

He waved his hand.

The pathetic crowd on the outer edge scurried away. They quickly returned with baskets which they dumped before the throne. Old cabbages, moldy potatoes, stinking fish bones and half empty cans.

“But this is what I have to eat. Day in and day out.”

He grabbed Joshua by the back of the shirt and with one hand lifted him off the ground. Joshua yelled as the Rat King swung him over the pile of stinking garbage.

The Rat King roared, “You will make me a feast. A feast worthy of a king.”

The huge arm swung back like a crane and the massive hand let go. Joshua landed next to Sophie and Lucinda. He wanted to stay down on the floor.

I have to get up. I have to do something to help the others. But what?

Sophie whispered to him, “He keeps his word.”

He stood. His voice was small from fright but he managed to cough loudly. The Rat King stopped his lumbering and swung back around towards him.

“Well?”

“Great king, you have me. Please allow my friends to leave.”

“No one leaves!” The Rat King roared back.

“If I make you this great feast, do you promise we won’t be hurt?”

“No harm will come to you,” The Rat King swore.

“And, if it pleases you, will my friends be allowed to return?”

“No!” The Rat King shouted. “Once you’re here there is no leaving. There is no more sky. There is no more sun. You are here forever.”

Sophie led them around the side to the concrete drain. Now that he saw it, Joshua recognized it. Just a few months ago, Dina and the twins had used a part of the drain as their own race track. They yelled and dashed down its smooth surface while Joshua and Heathcliff cheered them on. Lucinda stood at the end to mark the winner. They had stayed well away from the old pipe which led into darkness.

Joshua leapt down into the gully and walked right to the mouth of the pipe.

“This is where they went in?” he asked.

Sophie nodded.

“Dina squealed something about a kitty and she was off before we could stop her.”

He stared inside. His eyes could penetrate only a few feet before the blackness snuffed out all sight.

He looked up at the sky. Any moment the rest of the city would be just as black.

And then there’s no escape, he thought. Whatever’s in there, if it hides from the sunlight it won’t have to hide anymore.

“What do we do?” Heathcliff asked.

Joshua peered again into the blackness. He thought of Dina, and the twins and Lucinda trapped in there unable to get out. He knew exactly what they would do.

“We get them back.”

Heathcliff nodded. Sophie trembled badly. She started forward hesitantly. Joshua and Heathcliff closed in protectively on either side. Together they walked into the pipe and let the blackness swallowed them up.

There was nothing but foul smell and damp mud beneath their feet. Their eyes strained in gloom. There was not a bit of light. Joshua waited for his eyes to adjust but they didn’t. He felt for the concrete wall with his hand.

“How will we know when we find them?”

Suddenly a sick yellow light flared in front of them. The light blinded Joshua for a moment. He blinked. When his vision cleared he saw the dark figures all around them. They were as Sophie had described them, twisted men covered with dark twisted rags. One of them held a hooded lantern in his hand. The ill colored light streamed out from between the lantern’s slats. Its pale glow matched their eyes. They closed in on the three of them and formed a solid wall. One of them took Joshua’s leather pouch with his knives.

He swallowed hard.

“We’re here for our friends!”

One of the rag men pointed with a boney finger. The others parted and revealed Lucinda and the young ones huddled together.

They let out a shout when they saw him.

Sophie and Heathcliff yelled back.

The two groups ran together and embraced each other.

“Are you all right?” Joshua asked.

Sophie kept the twins hugged close to her. Dina wrapped her arms tight around Joshua’s waist.

“We’re fine,” Lucinda said. Her face was tear-streaked. “They just had us wait here until Sophie brought you back.”

Joshua turned to their captors.

“What now?”

Their leader pointed to a dark tunnel. They went in one by one and found it dead-ended after just a few feet. The twisted men stood at the other end and trapped them inside.

“What are they doing?” Dina asked.

“I guess we wait here. Sleep.”

“They’ll take us to the Rat King in the morning,” Sophie said.

They lay down. Joshua only got bits and pieces of slumber through the night. The next morning they woke. Joshua rolled towards the pipe entrance. The men let him walk around to stretch his legs. As he walked out the night’s stiffness he saw shafts of sunlight stream down from grates above. He wondered if anyone above them would hear if he screamed.

Suddenly one of the twisted men walked right next to Joshua and stood there. It was if the rag man dared him to scream or run away.

Joshua went back to the pipe. The others woke up. Once they were on their feet, the guards surrounded them and marched them into the sewers.

They took several twists and turns. They passed by great rivers made by the pipes and the constant flow of water pumped through the city. They trekked through enormous canyons made of concrete and iron. They crossed slippery wooden bridges and ran beneath chilling waterfalls. It was all so fantastic that Joshua forgot for a moment that they were prisoners marched towards an unknown fate.

“What happened to you?” Lucinda asked.

Joshua looked back.

She was just behind him, twins and Dina trailed her. They all looked up at him expectedly.

“Sophie said you were attacked by a monster,” said Dina.

“Was he big?” asked Ollie.

“Was he scary?” asked Rollie.

He felt Sophie nudge him in the ribs.

“Go on, tell them,” she chided.

Then Joshua understood. They needed a story. They needed something to take their minds off of their current situation.

“He wasn’t a monster,” he told them. “He was a man. At least I think so. He was the thinnest man I ever saw but he was strong. He could climb walls like a spider.”

The little ones oohed and ahhed.

“He’s watched us the whole time. Watched me that is.”

“Why would he do that?” asked Dina.

“He wanted to see me cook,” he answered. “He’s the one who brought us the kettles. I saw something that moved quickly over the wall after they appeared. It had to have been him.”

“And the guard at the South Wall,” Sophie said.

“Yes. The one who almost shot us. He wasn’t crazy. He saw this man. His name’s Hodmedod.”

Joshua shivered when he mentioned that name.

“But how did you get away?” the twins asked in unison.

Joshua noticed some of their captors leaned in and listened. He began to see why Sophie liked to tell stories, done right they had a power.

Not unlike cooking, he thought.

He told the story for everyone who listened. He tried to be as dramatic as Sophie but stumbled in a few places. He described how Hodmedod bound him then carried him up to the roof of the building.

“He was about to get away with me his prisoner when a brick flew out of the air and hit him in the head! It knocked him cold and we both fell off the wall!”

There was a gasp from both children and adults who listened in.

“We hit the cobblestones. And these huge men hoisted us both into a wagon and rode off.”

“Where were they taking you?” Sophie asked.

“I never found out.”

He told them how Heathcliff snared him out of the wagon with his line.

“He’s the real hero.”

“Yes I am,” crowed Heathcliff.

One of the rag covered men halted in front of them.

“You have a reed pole?” he asked Heathcliff.

Joshua noticed then that Heathcliff didn’t have it slung across his shoulders.

Heathcliff held up both his spindly arms over his mop of hair.

“I left it back at the tunnel entrance,” he claimed.

The man grunted suspiciously. He padded Heathcliff sides.

“I didn’t want to lose it,” Heathcliff insisted.

Satisfied, the man waved them on ahead.

Joshua waited a few paces before he resumed his story.

“So Heathcliff hauled me out of the wagon with a jerk and I landed right on the hard street a second time. Somehow all my limbs weren’t broken. Finally Heathcliff untied me and we watched the wagon roll on. Those thugs hadn’t seen a thing and Hodmedod was still out.”

Lucinda interrupted, “This Hodmedod, he said he gave you the kettles, did he also send the wagon full of lentils and flour?”

Joshua shrugged.

“I suppose that could have been him as well.”

“It must have been him,” Sophie said.

“I don’t think so,” Heathcliff argued.

Joshua chuckled.

“What makes you think so?”

“Well he hauls the kettles over to the alley himself but he hires out a wagon to drop off the lentils and other stuff?”

Joshua thought about that. “I guess it doesn’t make any sense.”

Dina tugged at his shirt.

“Joshua, enough about the scary man. What did you do after Heathcliff rescued you?”

Before he could say anything Heathcliff declared, “After that he took us on a trip to the Old City.”

Joshua winced. He wished Heathcliff hadn’t said anything about the Old City. He wasn’t ready to tell them the whole truth about Lazlo Cippolini, Augustus Gorgette, and the hidden room. He didn’t even know the whole truth and the parts he did know, he didn’t know how to explain and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Why tell them that even more danger awaited them back on the surface?

If we ever get back there, he thought.

The twins and Dina pleaded for more about his journey.

“There’s not much to say,” he offered.

This only increased their appetite for details.

Heathcliff stepped in.

“Well, no sooner do I rescue him from the clutches of villainy than he says we have to go to the Old City. So off we went. I tagged along in case he needed another rescue. First we had to get past the constable who guarded Jane’s Bridge. We succeeded with the help of my cunning and guile.”

“You did that walking backwards trick?” Lucinda groaned.

“I’ll have you know it worked like a charm, Little Miss Doubty Doubter,” Heathcliff claimed.

He turned to Joshua for support.

“We did get across,” Joshua admitted.

Heathcliff continued, “Once we’re across then Joshua takes over. He leads us this way and that. I have no idea where we are. And where does he take us? The busiest restaurant in the old city. It had this sign of a scarlet chicken.”

“You went to the Red Hen?” Sophie asked.

“Why did you go there?” Lucinda asked.

“Yes, why?” asked the twins.

Heathcliff continued, “He had us zip through the kitchen and into the chef’s office. And in there he discovers a secret door and opens it.”

They all looked at him their curiosity now starved for an answer. They were his family after all, weren’t they entitled to the truth?

But Joshua couldn’t explain and couldn’t tell them the whole truth.

“That’s where I learned to cook,” Joshua said.

It was only partially true but it came out like a full lie. He could see in their faces that none of them believed him. Even Dina knew he hadn’t told the truth.

One of their captors yelled back, “Enough story time. Be quiet back there!”

Joshua was glad for the enforced silence.

As they walked Sophie kept talking despite the warning. She spoke quietly and to no one in particular.

“The Rat King’s Kingdom is deep in the bowels of the sewers. Far from prying eyes.”

They arrived at a rope ladder slung over a gigantic rusting pipe. The rope was made of old rags instead of twine. Joshua reckoned that meant they were getting closer to this “Kingdom”. He climbed up the ladder as his captors prodded him from behind. He could feel the pipe rumbling beneath his feet as gallons of water flowed through it.

Once they were all over the pipe they started down dark tunnels where there was no sunlight. Soon lanterns appeared at regular intervals. They passed by several tunnels where human eyes stared back out of the gloom.

“The commoners of the kingdom,” Sophie said. “No better than serfs or slaves.”

There was light up ahead.

Not sunlight. It was too weak and too orange. There a thin haze of smoke hung in the air.

They came to a great wide tunnel.

Down the center of the tunnel were two rows iron braziers with burning coals. A great black curtain was hung at the end of the tunnel that hid what lay beyond.

Before the curtain was a high backed wooden chair. Though it had no fancy decoration, or gilding, it was clearly meant to be a throne.

On that throne sat a giant. He was the biggest man Joshua had ever seen.

“The Rat King,” Sophie gasped.