Chapter 10: A city inside a city

As soon as the last ray of light succumbed on the horizon, Gadget Hackwrench awoke from her demonic slumber. It was then that she realized she was in the foul-smelling arms of a brutish rat in pirate attires. The repulsed girl cursed her condition for the hundredth time and writhed with desperation against her captor. She would have screamed, of course, but the rags on her muzzle made that impossible. "Mggh! Mpph!"

"Oh, the witch finally awoke!" The rat – Absolom – exclaimed.

Trailing two steps behind, his shipmate Roldan felt shivers down his spine. "Calm down! Let's calm down! She is still tied up and gagged, right?"

"Gadget!" Foxglove, firmly gripped by Roldan, called out to her friend. The blonde mouse barely had time to look back to the pink bat before being pushed forward by her escort. These few seconds were enough for Foxy, though. Enough to make sure Gadget was as scared and confused as she was.

"Where are Dale and Tammy?" Foxglove finally gathered the courage to ask. "What did you do with them!?"

At the sole mention of the red nosed chipmunk's name, Roldan gulped down; such sound that wasn't lost to the bat's keen ears. "He… he should be dead"

"My Dale? Dead!?"

"Yes! He has to be dead!" Absolom yelled without much conviction. "If not by Desiree's blade, then by these wrathful humans and their murdering tools"

"Humans?" Both Foxglove and Gadget opened their eyes wide. "What just happened today? Where is Tammy?"

"That's enough, girl!" Roldan scolded her. "Shut your mouth for a while! Desiree will be happy to answer all your questions once she reunites with us!" Then, he glanced at his friend ahead of him. "She will reunite with us, right?"

"Of course she will, mate!" Absolom angrily answered over his shoulder, then his expression became somber and added in a whisper: "She has to"

As the night fell over the city, the group kept walking along increasingly dark streets, avoiding detection from humans and rodents alike. "Almost there" Absolom muttered to himself peering at the distance, at the dome of a building that rose ominously above every other in the neighborhood: Les Halles.

Built more than 500 years before, by command of a legendary king, Les Halles was the traditional central market of medieval Paris. The equivalent to a modern mall, this palace occupied several blocks wide right in the heart of the city and served as a shelter for merchants who came from all over the world to sell their wares to the people of the most populous city of Europe. Its enormous size, colorful ambience and regal splendor dwarfed the harbor market and took the breath away from visiting humans and smallfolk alike.

"Impressive, huh?" Absolom smiled quite amused at his three companions from the wilds, which could only nod back in awe at the immensity of the place.

Yet another breathtaking spectacle was in store for them. As soon as they crossed the arched gate they got engulfed by multitudes of rodents and insects from every known species roaming along the seemingly infinite corridors scavenging and quarreling for the leftovers at the feet of the market stands.

"So many of us…" Roldan pointed out marveled as he witnessed a brawl erupting between two gangs of mice over a pile of discarded meat. One group dressed in blue longcoats, the other wearing red kerchiefs. The showdown didn't last long, however, as a large group of local mice musketeers - Paris garrison - promptly arrived to keep the looting civilized and subdue the unruliest and loudest among the rabble.

The pirate in charge of escorting Foxglove twisted his nose with contempt. "Ugh, plenty of guards here"

"Of course!" Absolom responded and tugged Gadget closer to him. "Les Halles is like a city inside a city" He lectured. "I was born here, you know? Just like half of Paris' rodents have… Hell, even Desiree was born here!"

"What!? Drop dead, mate!"

"It's true, I swear it! So true that the hideout we are going to is her very birthplace"

"Nonsense! Desiree was born in Rouen! That's where her father lives, that's where her store of exotic imports is!" Roldan countered.

"Yeah yeah, she told you that herself, didn't she? there is a reason for that. You'll see"

Foxglove and Gadget could only listen and wonder.

One full hour passed by, with the group venturing into the darkest corridors of the market palace. From time to time, they would run next to dens of impoverished mice: most of them migrants, most of them malnourished. That's where the bounty posters of the witch of Saint Pierre and her evil companions adorned almost every pillar and wall. "Careful here" Roldan warned with a smirk. "I bet many of your ex-neighbors are in the lookout for your lovely companion now"

Absolom nodded over his shoulder and hid the witch's loosened bangs of blonde hair back into her hood, causing the mouse to shudder and shrink back, which amused her captor very much. "That's it witch, docile and quiet. Keep it that way and you'll live through the night"

Les Halles wasn't just a large collection of sales stands. It was also a neighborhood of workshops and established stores, even warehouses. In the foundations of one of those mortar and stone buildings the very first store of the D'Allure family was carved decades ago. The rats couldn't help but let out sighs of relief the moment they and their hostages reached the wooden doors of the abandoned place. They had arrived at their destination – safe, sound and without raising any suspicions-. However, their high hopes died the moment they opened the doors and found nobody was there to greet them.

'D'Allure shop of exotic imports' read the plaque. The place was completely abandoned. The ground floor might have been a store in the past, but now looked more like a dumpster, with all sort of forgotten trash covered in layers of dirt laying around. The place smelled of mold everywhere, as if the doors and windows hadn't been opened in a long time.

Absolom lighted up a lamp, and the sadness of the store increased by a tenfold. Some shelves had been vandalized and emptied already, while others at the back behind the counter had endured these assaults and tribulations with slightly better results. There were some footprints around marked on the dust, but they were too few, too old and didn't actually belong to adult rodents like Desiree and the crew. "Roldan, go check the upper floor" The rat ordered hiding his disappointment. "I'll take care of these girls"

"Aye, aye!" An anxious Roldan turned Foxglove to his partner, picked up and lighten a candle, and ventured deeper into the building.

This pause gave the girls time to take in the small details of the house they were in. Foxglove, for example, was quite sure nobody else was there besides them four - thanks to her echolocation senses - but decided to keep silence. From her point of view, the farther she were away from Roldan, the better. Brave Dale could come to rescue her at any moment, after all... and how could she explain being in the arms of a tall, muscular stranger?

While the pink bat shivered victim of her own imagination, Gadget became more and more intrigued by the long-forgotten objects that surrounded her. Many were undoubtedly from faraway lands, places the timid mouse could only dream to visit. If only her paws weren't tied together – and she were there as visitor and not as hostage -, she'd love to study and catalog each and every item in that house.

The witch's eyes suddenly got fixed on a tentacle that slipped out from Absolom's backpack. "Gustav?". Her tail whipped in joy as she realized her inherited cloak was indeed inside that bag.

Absolom didn't share the sentiment, though. "Oh, you cursed tentacle…" He shoved the octopus back into the backpack and into the folds of the magical cloth.

On that moment Roldan came into sight again. "This is not good, mate!" The younger rat shook his head with concern. "Not good at all! Boss isn't here, nobody is here! What are we going to do now?"

"Wait for her, what else?" His partner answered as he loudly put the backpack down on the floor, unwittingly raising a cloud of dust that made everyone cough and sneeze.

All the way back to the arched gates a young squirrel was just taking in the immensity of the place. "Goodness gracious! The whole of Saint Pierre could fit inside this market!"

Tammy Lombardi, weary as she was after spending the whole day chasing down the rats who took her friends away, took a deep breath and ventured into the maze. It didn't take long, though, for the brave girl to find a bounty glued to a wall with a detailed picture of her face on it. "Oh come on!" She protested. "Here too? How many of these were printed?"

Realizing she had been too loud for her own good, she turned around only to be startled by a local musketeer of curly blonde hair and red eyes who was approaching to her inquisitively. "Ups! I better leave!" Before the soldier could get any closer, the squirrel quickly turned around a corner and lost herself in the crowd. Not even her fluffy tail was discernible among these lines of rodents of many ages, sizes and species walking in all directions carrying food and shiny thingies.

Tammy would spend the next couple of hours roaming aimlessly in the corridors of Les Halles, too afraid to ask the denizens for clues on her friends' whereabouts, as she found more and more bounty posters that promised huge amounts of gold for her head.

"Ugh! If only I could rip them off!" She complained sourly stepping away discretely. "But that wouldn't be wise"

Tired, hungry and disheartened, the squirrel finally stopped walking and slumped down against a wall. It was past midnight and her eyes were starting to feel heavy, but she had no intentions of falling asleep in in such a filthy and dangerous place. "This has been a horrible day" She muttered to herself running a paw wearily across her hair. "Foxglove, Gadget… Where are you?"

As she fought off the urge to sleep, a pleasant smell came to her nose. "Mmh, camembert! it reminds me of home…"

Together with the smell, a noise like thunder came her way. Together with the noise, a giant camembert wheel came rolling down the corridor trampling everything in its path. "Kyaaah!" The startled girl barely had time to jump back to her feet and press herself against the wall on tiptoes. The smelly wheel passed by a pair of millimeters away from her nose and ended up crashing loudly and disintegrating against a nearby crate.

To make it even more bizarre, two horde of rodents arrived at the scene almost immediately: one group wearing blue longcoats, the other red kerchiefs. They even brought their banners and planted them facing each other. Insults were professed, threats were sworn, weapons were picked, and a nasty brawl over the mountain of smashed camembert broke loose.

Tammy was about to flee away from these hunger-crazed rodents when a mighty scream froze her in place.

"Ch-e-e-e-se!"

Just like a cannonball, so entered Monterey Jack into the fray, pushing over the ruffians who dared to look at the morsels of that tasty, tasty camembert. "Bunch of burglars, get your filthy paws away from my cheesssse!"

The girl witnessed agape as the raving knight beat down scores of red and blue rodents with only his bare fists, with no distinction of color or banners. At some point the gangs seemed to forget their differences and charged as one against the mustachioed mouse, even managed to pile over him and bring him to his knees, but alas, it was all for naught. As if powered up by the proximity of cheese to his nose, Monterey sprung up triumphant sending the bunch of beggars into the air.

"Mine, I tell you!" The knight roared as he dived again into the bigger portion of camembert he could find to devour it. By then his opponents were either writhing on the ground in pain or leaving the scene disorderly, carrying their injured comrades away from that gluttonous knight from foreign lands.

On the battleground stood only the banner-man of the red mob – an one-armed female rat – utterly shocked at this outcome and hesitating about leaving or staying. On the last moment she took heart, brandished a discarded rusted nail as a makeshift sword, and lashed out at the distracted Scottish mouse in a desperate ruse.

"Sir Monterey, look out!" Tammy shouted out from the distance.

Fortunately, the big mustachioed mouse had a guardian angel protecting him from above. Zipper, the scout fly, descended like a lightning just in time to block and deflect the attack with his needle in a display of expert fencing. Another pair of fast swings were enough to disarm the one-armed rat, who had no choice but to give up and leave the place – and the food – to Monterey and company.

Tammy couldn't help but feel pity for her as their eyes met for a second. "People here are at a constant war for food" She concluded with some guilt, as she had never had to fight tooth and tail for food in her life, even these terrible last days were a far cry from the daily life of the denizens of this overpopulated place.

Her eyes recovered his optimist bright, however, the moment she stepped onto the cheesy mess and found Zipper scolding his big friend buzzing all over his head. "Sir Zipper! Sir Monterey!"

"Tammy!" The fly opened his eyes wide and zoomed to greet her. "Gosh, I knew I had heard your voice!"

"Lil' lass!" Bulky Monterey struggled to stand up, stuffed as he was, and even then had to take a second to get his breath back. "What… what are you doing in this place?"

"We thought you'd be imprisoned in the inquisitorial palace by now" The fly added quite hastily.

"No, I escaped!" The girl ran to hug the knight's wide torso. "Thank God you are here!" She sobbed. "Foxglove, Gadget, Dale… We have to rescue them!"

"Aye, we will!" Monterey comforted her. "That's why we are here, little one". Suddenly his face, as well as zipper's, grew serious. "Say, is Chip with you?"

"Chipper? No… isn't he in a prison in Rouen? I wanted to go back there to rescue him! Please tell me he is all right! I miss him so much!"

The big mouse held the sobbing and trembling girl in his arms. "Lassy, please calm down!"

Zipper placed a paw on the girl's shoulder. "Good news then! Chip isn't in Rouen anymore, he escaped almost one week ago. We followed him all the way here"

"Is that true? Chipper is here in Paris as well?

After a pause, both knights nodded. "Must be"

Tammy answered with a faint grin that soon grew into a full dreamy smile. "Must be, huh? Then… Then I think I met with him earlier today. Yes, he must have been the one who saved me from the humans and then ran towards them again! Only my brave Chipper would do something like that"

"He really is one in a million" Zipper whispered cryptically.

Monterey shared the sentiment, clasping and unclasping his injured paw.

"And he trusted me with saving Gadget and Foxglove! I can't fail him! Please, let's go find them! I followed them and their captors all the way to this place! They must be nearby, perhaps hidden in some inn or hostel"

"That sounds like a good conclusion" Zipper rose above their heads and looked around. "If memory serves, there is a whole quarter full with hostels and taverns on that direction"

"And that's where we will go!" Monterey puffed. "But first, we will go on this other direction!" He pointed to the exact opposite.

"Huh? Why over there, Sir Monterey?"

"Oh please!" Zipper frowned. "Don't tell me…"

"I absolutely need to make sure she is all right!"

Tammy looked back and forth confused. "She?"

"His fiancée" The fly explained quite upset.

"Aye, my beautiful lady is missing!" Monterey lamented. "She didn't come back to Rouen as expected, now her father and I are deeply worried about her. They still have a place a few blocks away from here, so I wanted to check it out"

Then the bulky knight knelt to meet the girl eye to eye, grabbed her paws in his and send a pleading look. "Please, lass, grant me this wish… Let me go into that house and set my mind at ease. Only then I'll have the strength to save you and your friends from any harm!"

The blushed Tammy looked away sheepishly. "Oh you don't – You don't have to be so dramatic, Sir Monterey. Sure, let's go and take a look!"

"God bless you, lil' lass!" He sprang into action with renewed energies. "All right, follow me guys! I promise this won't take long!"

The new party of knights and cleric made their way back into the dark corridors of Les Halles. Unsurprisingly, its denizens now looked at Monty and Zipper with a mix of fear and reverence, and more than a few times they retreated to their crevices and holes. "Oh no, I won't be able to ask this people for leads anymore!" Tammy lamented.

Zipper promptly flew to her side. "Don't worry! You can count with us now! Monty and I will help you look for these pirates in every inn and tavern of this damned place"

Then, the fly buzzed his way to Monterey's satchel and back to the girl. The big mouse barely cast a glance at him. "Here, Tammy" He handed the cleric some bread. "Eat something, a long night awaits"

The squirrel's eyes gleamed as she took the small piece of food "It does, right? Thank you, Sir Zipper!"

"Just Zipper" The fly smiled as he left the girl's side and flew to the Scottish mouse's ear. "Monty?" He whispered.

"What's up, pally?"

"What will we do if we run into our captain?"

A moment of careful thought later, Monterey answered. "Meh! Cap'n Patrick and the rest of the troop must be at the other extreme of this place, looking for Chip like the obsessed lizard he is. It's unlikely we'll run into them out of a sudden"

"Ok… and what will we do if we run into Chip?"

After a wince and a quick glance at the hungry girl behind them, Monterey's face grew somber. "Honestly, I don't know"

"It's difficult to be a soldier with a conscience, huh?"

"It is, pally, it is"

Tammy caught up with the duo of knights, a naughty smile on her pretty face. "Did I just heard you mentioned 'Chip'?"

"Uh, well…"

"We…"

"You haven't told me yet how did you and Chipper escape from Rouen" The girl insisted as she finished her dinner. "Did you charge through the ranks of these horrible inquisitors like a battering ram? They had no chance against the three of you working together!"

Zipper promptly interdicted. "Actually, Chip found a hidden backdoor"

"Oh, that sounds like something Chipper would do"

"At the end we only had to fight once. Didn't we, Monty?"

"Aye, but it was a bad enough fight". Monterey again clenched and unclenched his left fist.

"But you won and got free, that's what matters" Tammy chirped.

The duo of knights looked at each other, then gave the girl some fake smiles.

"And how did you got separated from Chip?" Tammy asked in a burst of interest. "What could have happened?"

"You see…" Zipper stuttered and turned to Monterey for help.

"Oi!" The mustachioed mouse pointed forward. "Look at this, we've arrived!"

"Huh?" The girl's attention was drawn towards a two-stories tall rodent's house carved in the darkest corner of a workshop. Her eyes then made the name in the plaque above the door and opened wide in shock. "D-D'Allure?"

"Aye! 'D'Allure's store of exotic imports'" Monterey straight declared. "First property of the family of my beloved Desiree!"

While the big mouse rushed to the front door, the squirrel girl froze in her spot. "Tammy, are you all right?" The loyal Zipper asked coming back to her.

"Desiree D'Allure… is his fiancée?"

"Uh hum" The fly nodded. "Weird girl, from a family of merchants fallen in disgrace"

"Slender, tall, thick accent?" Tammy asked growing pale, causing Zipper to frown.

"Crikey! What the hell is going on here!?" The voice of Monterey thundered from inside the house. Zipper and Tammy rushed alarmed to his aid only to find a most bizarre scene at play: A pair of brawny rats dressed in sailor attires, caught in the middle of a poker game; Foxglove and Gadget, tied up behind the counter and looking back at Monterey in disbelief.

"Hey, fatass! This is private property, get lost!" Absolom ordered slamming his fist on the table.

But our knight didn't – couldn't – move at all. Astonished as he was, eyes going from the helpless girls to the pair of ruffians and back, it took him plenty of seconds to process the situation unfolding in that room.

His silence only angered the pirates more. "Are you even listening? Lose yourself!"

On that moment Monterey's companions crossed the doorway. "Oh my god!" Tammy gasped in surprise. "Foxglove, Gadget!"

Now it was the turn for Roldan and Absolom to freak out. "The cook! Where is Desiree? What did you to do her?"

"Desiree?" Monterey stuttered, rage and confusion building up.

"Aye mate, Desiree D'Allure, terror of the Sienne! You better not cross her! Now, hand over the girl and be on your way!"

Instinctively the squirrel sought refuge behind the knight. "I don't fear you or Desiree anymore! Release my friends, you rats!"

"Fool girl! We'll present your fluffy mangled tail to our boss!" Roldan lunged forward in order to snatch Tammy away from her companions, but his footwork was halted by the powerful fist of Monterey, who landed a hook right on the rat's abdomen – powerful enough to send him some steps back and down to his knees-. "Offf!" Roldan grimaced, out of air and dazzed.

"Shut up! Speak not the name of my fiancée! She is not a violent criminal like you lot! No, she's not!"

"Fiancee?" Absolom managed to say a moment before the irate Monterey Jack landed a crossed blow on him, one so powerful that sent the rat stumbling back against the table, which got crushed under his weight. "Urggh!"

Next to them, Roldan managed to rise to his feet again. "You (cough) bastard…" The younger rat joined the fight with Slipping his arms underneath the mouse's armpits and wrapping his paws around the back of the neck. "I got you!"

Monterey defended against the younger pirate with a pair of rib-breaking elbow strikes. The stubborn Roldan endured them, so the mustachioed mouse was forced to run and stomp him against the nearest wall, breaking some shelves in the maneuver.

Tammy overcame the initial shock of this battle between juggernauts and ran to help her frightened friends at the back of the counter. She was just untying Foxglove when the trio of muscled fighters came crashing against the wall next to her. "Whoa! Careful!"

Zipper arrived in a flash to help her get Gadget free. "Tammy, this is getting dangerous!" He buzzed as he made short work of the witch's bindings. "Go now!"

"Tammy, wait!" Gadget held the cleric by the paw. "That backpack! The grimoire is in there!"

"Got it, witch!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Monterey made the silhouettes of the three girls making his way to the exit. Then he chivalrously stepped between them and the pirates, effectively covering their escape. "Right, guess what! You are under arrest, pirates! The knight flexed his muscles. "For the crime of abducting and imprison two girls against their will! In my girlfriend's house, to make it worse!"

"What? You are delusional!" Roldan raised his guard. "Our boss Desiree would never date a chubby mouse like you!"

Absolom just frowned and got ready.

"Stop calling her boss!" Monterey let out a scream of rage and charged against the duo of criminals like a wild boar. The reckless Roldan stepped forward to meet him, but was pushed violently aside by the mouse's mighty shoulder. Absolom, veteran brawler, was able to hold his ground against the knight's tackle by planting his feet firmly on the floor. After an initial barrage of blows, they both got engrappled in a wrestling deadlock. The planks of the floor creaked and tore apart as both contenders dug their heels in them as they tried to take the other down to their knees.

Roldan tried to rejoin the battle again, but this time it was Zipper and his needle-rapier who stopped him cold. "Get away, you filthy fly!" He growled, then got ahold of a wooden stick that used to be part of the table and swung it at the scout once, twice and thrice. All in vain. The fly just dodged the stick over and over, each time countering with a new scratch in the muscled rat's fingers. "Ugghn!" Roldan finally let go his weapon, as the pain became unbearable.

"Had enough?" The little Zipper scoffed smugly. "Ready to surrender?"

By any response, the brutish rat lashed out with a fierce crossed punch. Unfazed, the scout merely buzzed around the arm, leaving yet another cut. Another fast strike came in. This time Zipper flew up, causing Roldan to smash the last of the remaining shelves in the wall. A wizard's crystal ball – fake or real, none of them would ever know – came rolling down and broke loudly in a thousand pieces. This noise stunned Zipper badly, and Roldan knew that was his only chance. Unfortunately for the pirate, it was a trap. The treacherous fly shifted aside less than a second before the claw made contact, causing the rat to step on the shards of glass right below him. "Arggh!" Roldan yelled out in pain, and fell to the side grabbing his injured feet unceremoniously. He ended up landing on some broken shelves and littered goods, all of them adding noise to his sound defeat.

Meanwhile, Monterey and Absolom kept on locked in a contest for domination, holding each other's wrists just like a pair of wrestlers from the ancient greek Olympics. Both of them buffing in exhaustion, none of them willing to give up a single step back.

Zipper made a move to put an end to this impasse, but was stopped by the roaring voice of Monterey. "Stay back, Zip! I got this…"

Absolom smirked mockingly at such impertinent declaration. "Hey, I just realized who you are… yes, you must be that rich guy from Scotland Desiree talks so much about, the one who will take her out of this country and into a great life of luxury"

"And I will, mate!" Monterey declared among beads of sweat. "So she won't have to keep company with criminals like you anymore! I will liberate her!"

Exhausted as he was, Absolom still found energies to laugh strenuously. "Hahaha! You clueless moron! The Desiree D'Allure I know will dry you out of money like the pirate queen she is!"

"Liar…"

"Then she will travel around the world with us at her side!"

"Liar!" With an herculean effort born of rage, the scottish mouse managed to lift his opponent up in the air and held him there in for a long second. Both Zipper and Roldan held their breath in amazement at such incredible maneuver.

"Whoa, whoa!" The rat shouted in anguish"Put me down, put me down!"

"As you wish, mate!"

And put him down Monterey did, with extreme force and right on top of his pirate companion. The wooden planks were crushed and the entire house trembled, sending the dust collected in all these years up on the air like a fog of dirt that obscured the victory of the mustachioed champion.

In fact, once the cloud settled down, only Monterey and Zipper stood there in the middle of the chaos. Their opponents were, for all practical purposes, out of combat.

However, Monterey felt there were still questions to be answered, so he picked up the defeated Absolom by the shirt collar and bared his fangs at him. "Where is Desiree?" The knight demanded to know. "Where is my girlfriend!?"

"She… she should be here already!" The pirate, hurting all over, stammered. "Please don't hurt me!"

"You blasted, rotten, son of a…! You dragged her into this, didn't you? I'll make you pay for it!"

"Monty, don't!" Zipper put himself between them. "What would Desiree say if she saw you? What would Tammy say?"

"You… you are right, pally" Monterey let go his opponent, who again fell to the ground loudly. "I lost my temper for a second" He then stood up and ran his paw over the face. "Wait, where is Tammy? And Foxglove? Gadget?"

"Outside… waiting?"

Both knights hurried out of the house only to find the trio of girls on their knees, paws over their heads, surrounded by musketeers from Rouen's garrison – Monterey and Zipper's squadmates-. "What the…" the fly's mouth fell open. "How did they got here?"

Monterey was as shocked as his friend at this terrible turn of events.

Suddenly came a voice that froze their blood. "Ah, just the mercenaries I was looking for" Patrick Lefevre greeted them with a martial salute and a triumphant smile. He walked to the duo flanked by a blond musketeer Tammy recognized as the one she hid from back at Les Halles gates.

"Sir!" Both Monterey and Zipper stood up straight and answered the salute. The looks of shock and disbelief of the captured girls at their feet made them avert their gaze. At the same time, the situation amused the lizard to no end.

"At ease! I won't lie, Sir Jack, I'm impressed!" The commanding officer declared with a wide grin as he turned to inspect the prisoners closer. "Three runaway bounties captured in a single night! One of them the famous witch of Saint-Pierre!"

The sole mention of that name triggered collective gasps from the surrounding crowd of onlookers. Some of them even left the place at once, overcame with fear and muttering prayers. The undaunted Patrick, on the other hand, bent down to meet Gadget eye to eye and whispered: "We meet again, witch. And this time under more favorable circumstances" Then he pulled her closer by the dress, making her wince. "Now, if only your friend Chip Maplewood were here, so I could kill him in front of pretty blue eyes of yours!"

"L-leave him alone!" Gadget begged. "He hasn't done anything!"

"On the contrary! He has murdered four of my soldiers already!"

"What?" Gadget became pale and speechless upon hearing such heinous accusation. "No, He wouldn't…" Then a vision tinted in red assaulted her; vivid images of his lost friend, his expression twitched with bloodlust, wielding a pair of purple swords on the edge of a cliff against a trio of frightened musketeers. A fourth was already dead at his feet, no doubt cut down by these otherworldly weapons. The mirage then degenerated into a whirlwind of blood and horror-stricken screams. "No, Stop!" The witch woke up from the nightmare completely disturbed. "Why, why are you showing me this!"

"You lie!" Tammy's voice thundered with conviction. "My Chipper would never do something as cruel like that!"

"My Lass Tammy… cap'n Patrick is telling the truth" Monterey tried to settle the girl down by putting his paw on her shoulder.

"Listen to the knight, young innkeeper. He is the one that captured that fallen ranger that night and brought him to me"

That revelation made Tammy send an incredulous stare up to Monterey Jack, whose low gaze confirmed the lizard's words. "How could you?" The squirrel violently rejected the comforting paw of the big mouse, then stood up to confront not only Patrick, but the soldiers and the judging people gathered around. "Even, even if that's true, so what!? Four, ten or one hundred, I will always forgive Chipper! Always!"

Upon the dead silence of both her friends and her enemies, the squirrel spoke one last time in a darker, ominous tone. "He is already here in Paris, you know? It's only a matter of time until he comes to rescue us from you, your soldiers and your murderous inquisition!"

"Believe me girl, I'm actually counting on him to come out and face me one last time. I really do! But enough of this! Men, take them back to our camp. Keep a close eye on the witch, at least until dawn"

"Yes, sir!" At the blue lizard's command, the prisoners were picked up and escorted away under a torrent of gossiping murmurs and curious gazes. Truly, this wasn't a daily occurrence, even by the standards of the chaotic rodent city of Les Halles. Gadget, for example, was granted a triple escort that forced the people away from her as the column hurried their way to the nearest exit gates. Patrick could hardly blame those who wanted to take a last look at the famous witch who burned to death a dozen of musketeers and turned to stone an important hero of the church. Still, a sting of doubt bugged the composed lizard, as this girl didn't struck him as the type who'd kill anyone even in self-defense. He couldn't help but wonder then if that report of an evil twin sister was true, as the mustachioed knight declared some days ago.

Patrick was pondering the disturbing possibility of a second blonde witch loose in the country when musketeers from the Les Halles garrison – their hosts and guides in this maze of poverty– came out from the abandoned store with the pirate rats in chains. "Captain Lefevre!" Their commander called. "What should we do with these criminals?"

"Kidnappers!" Monterey growled indignant. "Robbers! Deviants! Throw them in the deepest corner of La Bastille!"

"Silence, Sir Jack!" The lizard signaled as he studied the older rat's face. "Hey, aren't you Absolom Mousenegger, former mercenary?"

"Never met him" He answered turning the head away.

Within the blink of an eye, the vexed Patrick had the edge of his sword on the brutish rat's throath. "Pft! You are a terrible liar, Absolom! As bad as your dead king"

"W-What did you just say?"

"Capone, that poor excuse of a king, is dead" Patrick explained with morbid relish. "His last followers threw him off a tower the moment my army knocked on his keep's doors"

"No, it can't be! I don't believe you"

Patrick just shrugged and walked away. "Ask him for the details tomorrow, when you meet him again in hell. Captain Pierre, they are all yours"

An old mouse dressed in a red and black musketeer uniform saluted back. "Thanks for your help, captain Lefevre! Good luck out there!" Then he turned towards his own troops. "Men, take this pirates to the prison!"

Monterey Jack stepped forward to intervene as both rats refused to walk and instead fought to get free from their chains. Patrick again raised his paw to keep him at bay. "Let the local garrison deal with them, we have our own prizes to take care of. Back to our camp"

"… Aye, sir"

With that command, the Rouen's garrison left the place. Monterey Jack only had a pair of seconds to whisper a sad goodbye to her love's birthplace, before being interrupted by his captain's musings. " Sir Jack, I must admit I wasn't too keen on your idea to come search for Maplewood and his associates here in Les Halles, but by the king's curled wig, it turned out splendid! Excellent work!"

It wasn't often that the sadistic commander of Rouen's garrison complimented his subordinates, much less with a pat on the back as Patrick suddenly did, which only added another notch to the knight's unspoken grief.

Many hours later, with the dawn on the horizon announcing the beginning of a new day, the abandoned store of exotic imports received yet another pair of cloaked visitors.

"This must be the place" Chip Maplewood stated catching his breath. "It has to be"

His companion, Dale Oakmont, was so tired and sleepy by then that couldn't help but to lean on the nearest wall. "'D'Allure exotic imports'" He read out loud. "Just like the old lizard said. It was nice of him to point us to this place, and to lend us these cloaks"

"Sure" The black-nosed chipmunk nodded curtly, his attention on the details of the scene ahead of him. "But something is off… this whole place is too quiet"

As soon as he mentioned that, the rasping voices of the norse ravens echoed on his mind. "Looks like you are late, hero! As you can see, everybody left already!"

"Slow chipmunk couldn't catch up with his girlfriend! If only you were a raven, eh?"

Chip gritted his teeth and clasped the pommels of his swords, an action that didn't go unnoticed by his companion. "Hey, are these ravens pestering you again?" Dale asked with sincere concern. "Don't listen to them"

"I know, but there is some truth hidden among all the poison they spout" The ranger knelt and took a good look at the ground. "There is nobody here or even nearby. However, one could tell something big happened earlier. Lots of footprints are gathered around the main door disorderly" He pointed out. "While those others are coming and going in quite the martial order"

More disturbingly, Monterey Jack's unique footprints were also there, no doubt about it. A clue Chip kept to himself.

"So you wanna go inside and take a look?"

"Yeah, lets… wait! Someone comes!"

Both chipmunks barely had time to hide in the shadows as a musketeer from the night watch – apparently, given that he was carrying a rodent sized torch – came around the corner and stopped right in front of the store, as if to recall in silence some event from before.

"He looks as if he knows what happened, doesn't he?" Dale whispered right behind his friend. "I bet he knows!"

"I'd bet that too" Chip nodded and then, grinned wolfishly. "Let's capture him!"

"Hold on!" The red-nosed chipmunk grabbed his friend by the shoulder. "Violence is not the answer to every problem, you maniac! Leave this to me!"

"Maniac?" Chip whispered back indignant, but by then Dale was already past him and getting rid of the old sailor cloak.

"Ahoy there!" The bard loudly called, much to his hidden partner's chagrin.

"Who's there?" The musketeer turned around and shed light on the strange, bombastic and multicolored chipmunk coming his way. "Huh? Who are you?"

"Poe is my name, poetry is my game!" The chipmunk expertly lied as he struck some random chords from his lute. "Seriously, I'm just a bard who came to see the place everybody is talking about tonight"

"Ah yes" The guard let out a weary yawn and took some steps towards the abandoned store, the plaque dangling above as if welcoming him. "Unbelievable, right? I've always said this store is cursed, double cursed now"

"Oh do tell! I've never been in this part of Les Halles before. So this place has a story?"

The guard crossed his arms and stared at the now opened door, recalling older, sadder times. "Some fifteen years ago a family of merchants used to live here, you know? Husband, wife, boy and girl. 'Exotic imports' as the sign reads. Objects from the colonies and beyond, marvels to the eyes of people who have never left this city. Oh boy, everybody wanted to put their paws on trinkets from these faraway places, so the business prospered. The parents even bought a second state somewhere else and moved, leaving the elder son in charge"

On that moment Dale felt a pebble impacting on his back. From the shadows an impatient Chip urged him to urge the guard to get to the point. By response, Dale made a 'Calm down' sign with the palms. "How interesting! What happened next?" He asked joining the guard again.

"Well, the boy then went and perished at sea during one of these reckless adventures, leaving this store neglected. By then he had gained some ill reputation for trading with… witchcraft artifacts. That greedy mouse, he even got a visit from the inquisition prior to his last travel. It was a huge scandal. And now, the famed witch of Saint Pierre got captured in this same house! Coincidence? I think not!"

"Wowie Zowie! So the gossips were true? The witch of Saint Pierre was captured here? By who?"

"Musketeers from Rouen. They tracked the witch all the way here and captured her under our noses. We musketeers from Paris garrison only got to keep the pirates she was traveling with"

"And where did these musketeers take the witch? Are they still around?"

"Well" The guard rubbed his chin a pair of seconds. "They mentioned their camp, wherever is it. Nevermind, kid. I bet they will deliver that witch and her companions to the inquisitors this same day. Good riddance, I say! That witch should have chosen Les Innocents to hide instead! Now I can't take her seductive blue eyes out of my head! God, I need to go to sleep soon"

"Uhm, did you say companions? So the witch wasn't alone?"

After a moment of pondering the reason for the bard's nervous smile, the guard continued. "Yes, yes, a pair of girls got taken away along with the witch. A pink bat and a fluffy squirrel. What a shame, huh?"

"A shame indeed" Dale shook his head and took a step back. "Well good sir, I think I've got enough material to work with for days to come. And look at the hour! It's time I take my leave". He made a courteous bow, turned around and walked away as composed as he could. Trepidation, however, was devouring him from inside.

Only many hours later and right in the middle of his breakfast this musketeer from the night watch did recognize the bard that chatted with him earlier at dawn. Dale Oakmond, the one with a bounty of three hundred gold nuggets on his head. "Triple curse, dammit!"