Энди Вейр - Rat

She jogged along the street. She didn’t know of any need to run, but the sheer urgency in the air got her adrenaline pumping. She stopped a passer-by.

The man was clearly in a hurry, and seemed pained that Rat had grabbed his arm.

“What’s going on?” Rat demanded.

The man did a double-take and stared at her. “You mean you don’t know?”

Rat shook her head.

“The armies of evil are coming! Tordanal is going to be under attack! They’ve already crested Tordan hill, they’ll be here in under an hour!”

Rat let his arm go, and the man ran off.

“Shit!” She said.

She looked back in the direction of Glawyn’s hovel, then forward in the direction of her own place. After quick deliberation, she ran full speed toward her place.

In the chaos, Rat ran down street after alley after street until she reached one alleyway in particular. A large, wooden refuse box adorned one wall, which she opened and climbed in to after checking to ensure nobody was watching. Once inside, she tripped a secret lever and the bottom opened up, dropping her into a sewer tunnel.

She ran along the tunnel until she reached her secret home. One of the sluice entrances, long since inoperative, was 20 feet wide and 40 feet long as it ramped down toward the main tunnel. Rat had long ago bricked off both sides of the ramp to make a home for herself.

She ran to the door, unlocked it, and rushed inside. The décor was Spartan at best. In one corner stood her unslept-in bed. A old cabinet stood against one wall and some of Talfryn’s toys were scattered on the floor. Talfryn’s bed was against the other wall. He slept peacefully in it.

Rat exhaled nervously and her tense stature loosened up. While Talfryn would never leave the place at night without Rat, he would now that it was morning. Fortunately, he had not yet risen.

Rat walked over to his bed and gently woke him.

Talfryn was six years old and had an unruly mop of blond hair. He rubbed his eyes with his fists. “Hi,” he mumbled.

“Morning,” Rat smiled. “Did you sleep well?”

Talfryn nodded. “Mm-hmm.”

“Listen closely, honey,” said Rat. “I need you to stay here today, OK? You have to stay here at home. You can’t leave at all. Understand?”

“Why?”

Rat shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. But no matter what, I want you to stay here. I’m going to go out for a while, but you have to stay. No matter what.”

“Why?”

“You just have to, OK?”

Talfryn shrugged. “Ok.”

“So, what are you going to do today?”

“Stay here.”

“Right,” Rat said. She hugged him. “You may hear stuff upstairs. It may be scary stuff. But you’re safest here.”

“What’s going on?” Asked Talfryn.

“There’s going to be a fight. It may get to the streets above. I don’t know.”

“Is it the Orcs? Are they coming?”

Rat decided to come clean. There was no hiding this from Talfryn. “Yes, honey. The Orcs are coming. But they won’t be able to find you down here, and I’ll keep you safe.”

Talfryn started to cry. “Orcs eat people.”

“They won’t eat you. They won’t find you. You’re safe here.” She crossed to the cabinet, opening a secret drawer. She pulled out a bag and emptied its contents into her hand. 7 Nobles. Her entire fortune.

“What if they do find me?” Talfryn asked from his bed.

“I’ll kill them.”

“Orcs are tough.”

“I’m tougher,” said Rat with resolve. “Don’t worry. Just stay here. I’ll be back soon.”

“Where are you going?”

“To get us some food and stuff. We may have to hide out here for a while.”

“I’m scared.”

“Don’t be. I’ll be back soon.”

Rat left Talfryn there, locking the door as she left. Talfryn gathered up his blanket around himself and shivered, tears still streaming down his cheeks.

Rat, running down the sewer tunnel, said to herself. “7 Nobles… enough for 28 trail ration kits… That’ll last us more than half a month… A full month or more if we conserve… Got to get to the marketplace before the price goes up.”

Rat thought of Glawyn. No time to worry about him. He was a grown man of 18 years. He could care for himself. She just hoped he wasn’t stupid enough to join the militia.

“Name?” said the Sergeant amid the chaos of the frantic Militia barracks.

“Glawyn ap Tordanal.”

“Deity you worship?”

“None, really.”

“Grab a pike.”

“I’m better with a sword.”

“Then grab a sword.”

Rat ran down Cobbler’s Alley. The place was a scene of somewhat cooperative chaos. The various armory stalls and shops were open, their employees and owners flinging swords, helms, armor, pikes and anything else that could kill an Orc out into the street. As quickly as they were thrown there, sturdy men, some in uniform, some not, would grab a few and head out.

“Collwydd!” Rat yelled to one of the vendors. She made her way through the throng.

Collwydd’s cart normally supplied travelers passing through Tordanal. He lived in the Merchant’s Quarter, but did his business near the King’s Way to get first crack at travelers arriving at the port and heading out to points not accessible by the river. Today, his business was absolutely booming.

Rat pressed her way to the front.

“Oi!” came an ignored complaint from the crowd.

“Trail rations!” said Rat to Collwydd.

“10 coppers each.”

Rat knew not to argue. The price was double what it usually was, but supply and demand were clearly against her. “Fine.” She slammed the 7 Nobles down on the counter.

Collwydd grabbed the money, put it under the counter, and quickly counted out 14 trail ration kits for Rat.

She grabbed them and started to leave.

“Wait!” Said Collwydd. “You’ve got that brother to care for, don’t you?”

Rat nodded.

Collwydd threw her another 5 kits. “Here. Pay me later.”

This was no time for senseless pride. “Thank you,” Rat said, running off.

She ran back down the King’s Road.

Huffing and puffing, exhausted from all the running, Rat was nearly knocked over by a deafening rumble. She spun toward the source of the noise and saw it. It came from the sky.

A huge plume of unearthly fire jetted out from somewhere in the Mage’s Quarter. At first Rat thought there had been an enormous explosion of some kind. Then she saw the pillar of fire turn south and fly away rapidly.

The crowd around her burst into cheers and applause.

“Good to have mages around, I guess,” Rat commented, resuming her breathless run.

After a minute, another giant pillar of fire emerged from the city and flew north. This time, Rat was not surprised by the noise.

An onlooker clapped and hooted. “Did you see that!?”

Rat looked at it without a hint of joy. “Yeah, I saw it, I also saw the first one. It went south. That one just went north. That means the Orcs are coming from both sides.” She ran off, leaving the dumbfounded onlooker to his new, troubling thoughts.

Three more huge blasts came from within the walls of the old city before Rat managed to get to the sewers.

She ran in to her lair, and Talfryn ran up and hugged her.

She dropped the food and fell to her knees, hugging him back.

“Don’t go away again,” said Talfryn, crying hysterically.

Rat hugged him so hard she unintentionally lifted him off the ground. “I won’t. I’m staying here now. We may be stuck down here for days, but we’ll be together.”

Talfryn cried on her shoulder.

Glawyn looked to his left to see hundreds of men with swords and pikes. He looked to his right to see hundreds more. He looked ahead and saw a huge army of Orcs advancing slowly through the valley. He looked behind him to see a line of archers, and beyond them across the meadow, the southern end of Tordanal’s Low Quarter. It was here and a similar line to the north of the city that the men would make their stand. Just 200 yards from the outskirts of the city.