A room full of books; a chair sat upon by a mute.

The shine of a buck knife glinted in the candle light as it twirled in between the mandrill's fingers.

It's eyes remained fixated on it as he waited.

Dried up blood was left still streaked against the blade end. The mandrill itself wasn't sure how long he was left to glare at the weapon that distressed his patience so, but not soon after he was left pondering this, the door to his private office was knocked upon.

"Come in."

The office door slowly creeped open and in popped the faces of two mute wolves. They were wearing contrasting turtle necks, but the same expressions of apprehension and worry.

"Scarlemange? Y-you called us down?" Bad Billions asked, mentally knocking on his head a bit too late for stating the obvious.

Scarlemange did not answer.

His eyes had not yet left the buck knife, even as the two Newton Wolves had entered. The mandrill stopped twirling the knife and held it pointed slightly towards them with the sharp end. He left it in clear view for the two wolves to observe before the brothers fixated each other confused glances.

The knife was stabbed into the wooden desk with a great force, leaving it to stick out as he released it. The wolves' fur was left to stand on end.

"This knife... belonged to a human." Scarlemange began. His eyes moved up to meet the Billions brother's. "And this human...put it in one of my poor flamingo's neck...nearly killed the poor girl!"

The Billions watched on with their hands clenched as the mandrill continued with his voice raising. Every passing moment felt tense. They were relatively fine with their 'human capture quota' as Scarlemange put it, but watching the mandrill mute rant in any sense of anger was always a scary, unpredictable sight.

"So..." Scarlemange began to close. "I've already spoken with the rest of the other groups about this...not like you two to be late."

"Please excuse us." Good Billions twirled good fingers. "We were on the hunt for some new Erlenmeyer flasks since a certain someone knocked over our only supply and we ran int-''

"Alright, alright." The mandrill cut off. "Please do best to not be late again. First and final warning. But I also require something else of you..."

Scarlemange pulled out the knife and held it to the Newton Wolves. His smile stretched from ear to ear.

"Can you catch any trace of human still on this here knife? Maybe we can speed up the process of which human precisely did what they did. We already know they passed through Ratland...another problem I have to deal with..."

Good Billions grinned from ear to ear with him and corrected his glasses.

"Oooh, so something along the lines of a mystery hunt? Sounds thrilling."

Bad Billions took hold of the buck knife and took in a focused sniff, closing his eyes and analyzing any familiarities. But nothing came up. Good Billions had no better luck. Still, they took note.

"Nothin'...but we'll be sure to let ya know if we find any humans sharing this scent..." Bad Billions assured Scarlemange.

The mandrill intertwined his fingers and lowered his head. Though his eyes narrowed, his smile widened.

"That is all." Scarlemange began to close. He tapped his fingers repeatedly against the wooden desk. As Bad Billions motioned to give the blade back, the mandrill noble held out his palm to him.

"Keep it. You'll need it. It'll make this whole mess much easier...you are dismissed."

As the two canine brothers made way out of the office, the 18th century-attired mandrill tapped his nails hard on his desk.

"I want them brought directly to me. Directly. Alive."

The Billions froze in their gaze at their employer and nodded vigorously in unison. They wasted no time shutting the door behind them as they exited.

And thus the mandrill was left to himself once more.

Scarlemange remained silent for a good while as he store unmovingly at the door in front of him. A good while that dissipated as soon as he gritted his sharp teeth and banged his fists against his desk multiple times, before bringing his nails against the wood and scratching then down to the edge closer to him.

An abrupt laughter broke out of him as he rested his hands against his head.

Scarlemange took a long, deep breath. He arose and lifted his snout high.

"Everything is still on its course. No need to stress."

He told himself this as he relaxed his body and fell back loosely into his chair.

"What do you mean you can't make exceptions?" Kara blurted out loud at the suited human.

Knox and his group watched as the ever-shrinking gap in the gates that kept them from Lensvile's safe haven closed behind Devland.

The community leader straightened his pose and looked sternly at the four.

"The deal was three items of interest for entry, not two. You have brought me a wooden figurine and a pocket watch. You have failed at your task in bringing the third. A book-"

"Of science, yes! But c'mon, doesn't extreme effort count for anything?" We nearly died, like, over hundred times out there!" Lute was seething with a frustration he barely held back.

Knox rested a hand on Lute's shoulder and stepped up to the attired man.

"Look...we can at least come to a compromise." Knox spoke, wide eyes glinting for something more.

"Two of you stay while the others complete the task." Devland offered. "If you fail this one last day, you all leave for good. You'll never see us again and you won't speak of this place again."

Devland tapped his foot in another brief bout of thought and gave Knox a knowing look.

"One final condition."

Knox caught Devland's eyes as they left contact with his and trailed behind him. Knox knew that the community leader was going to say next before anyone else did.

"As price of failure, I also take your sword." Devland finalized, a growing smirk creeping into his face.

"I keep it until you come back, and if you return empty-handed...it's mine...permanently."

Kara interjected the idea.

"What? That's totally out of the quest-"

"Deal." Knox said simply.

Kara, Lute and Piercer looked to their friend with equal surprise.

"You're really willing to give up your precious blade to him?" Piercer asked incredulously, looking to Knox as if he was dangling out his soul for the sharks to snap at. Not very far off, honestly.

"Yeah. I'm aware the sword is simply a wager due to asking for extra. Letting two of us in before competing our task...there's gotta be something to pay for if we fail. Isn't that right Devland? Besides..."

Knox walked up to the leader before stopping almost within feet of him. He held out his hand and awaited for Devland to do the same.

"I know we won't fail."

Devland laughed hardily and locked Knox's hand with his own. The shake solidified the agreement.

The katana Knox had long-possessed was now officially up for ransom.

Knox lowered his head before he store up at the clouds closest to the sun.

Evening glory.

"Kara...Lute...I need you both to stay here."

Before they could protest against the notion, Knox continued.

"Kara...your shoulders still in need of attention. The damage that Scooter Skunk did doesn't seem to be going away. No matter how minor, you need that checked. And Lute...don't you think this place needs a little more pizzazz? Your playing would definitely lift some spirits here." Knox said, looking at the two.

"No need to lull us to sleep with excuses. We get it." Kara punctuated with a fist held out to him.

"Swear you'll be okay...even though I know you will."

Knox smiled and met her fist with his own.

"I swear. I really love you guys...and this sword."

Knox gripped the katana and unstrapped it from his back. He store intently at it's red scabbard and slowly unsheathed it from it's case. It glinted beautifully in the sun's light.

Taking a deep breath, Knox rotated to Devland's waiting form and re-cased the blade. The blade was held out to the community leader who gladly accepted it.

"It'll be a gracious gift to accompany my ever-expanding collection of exotics." Devland snided as he held the red scabbard in his hands.

Knox grimaced at Devland's handling of the blade and looked up and through his eyes.

"I'll be back for it soon. Keep it safe for me."

Kara met Piercer with a surprise hug, wrapping her arms around him tightly and nuzzling his black fur.

"I didn't forget about you, Archerat." she told the rat mute. "Keep Knox safe, okay?"

Piercer tried to hide his blushing face by trailing his sights to the side.

"Yeah, sure..."

Knox eyed the road they had came from. There was no time to over-think the consequences of failure. They wouldn't fail.

"Alright... No more time to waste. We're off, you two. Keep our new beds warm."

Four hours of searching.

Four hours of unrest.

Things still weren't looking so hot for the human and Archerat.

So they stopped by the cuff of the nearby forest for a quick drink to help gather their heads again. Piercer reluctantly went along.

"Well, this sucks." Knox said simply as he emptied the last remaining droplets of water down his dry throat. "Should've at least given us some more to drink."

Piercer simply sighed and walked up to the nearest tree. He then proceeded to bang his head against it with minimal force.

"Night's getting to you already?"

Piercer spun around with an agitated expression. He raised his hands into the air.

"We can't afford to sit around like this! You heard what Devland said. And what about your blade? We can't sit around any longer!"

Knox paused before responding.

"Relax. Nothing wrong with a small break."

Piercer pulled at his fur.

"It's been ten minutes! That stupid suited human is probably rocking that katana of yours like it's a baby." Piercer turned back towards the trees and leapt up branch to branch, getting higher with every jump.

"I'm going to keep look-holy mother of the rat gods."

Knox blinked at the mutes words.

"Holy mother of the rat gods?" Knox repeated with a chuckle.

"Human. Get up here. You truly need to see this to believe it."

"Um, okay?"

Knox struggled a bit initially, but eventually found his feet on the branches just below Piercer.

And then he saw it. The structure became easier to make out as his eyes adjusted through the darkness.

"Holy mother of the rat gods." Knox exclaimed in disbelief.

Just beyond a row of trees was a white building. And it was an unmistakable one.

It was an observatory.

A science kind of observatory.

"Let's get to it. My heart is literally doing back flips. I can't wait to victory dance in Devland's face." Knox told his friend with a wide smile.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Pause.

"Shhh. I think I heard something."

"I didn't hear anything."

"Huh...maybe it's my nerves."

Closer and closer Knox and Piercer got. And though there was still no sign of human nor mute, the apprehension never ceased.

It wasn't long before the massive structure was finally directly in front of them.

Knox stopped just shy of the double doors with Piercer leaned beside it, arrow pulled lightly against his bowstring. And as Knox took in a deep breath, he looked to his comrade.

Piercer nodded to him.

Knox nodded back.

The human knocked on the door and paused for whatever souls awaited on the other side.