Chapter
Six
The ship horn blew through the cold December air. Ratigan
watched as Meg stood by the baggage, shivering from the cruel wind.
They had traveled by stagecoach, train, and now ship, to reach the
mouse kingdom in Denmark. Meg had done beautifully in all her
lessons. She held a certain dignity about her that made her seem
strong and proud. She was almost ready to take her place as queen.
Unfortunately, one glitch lay in Ratigan's plans. Anne had
escaped!
It had happened last night, on the train. The girl
had been locked up in a wooden crate in the baggage car, while two of
his henchmen had been drinking. That very morning, they had awoken to
find the lock broken, the crate open and the nun gone!
This
was very bad for the professor. He didn't know how much the girl knew
about his plans. He hadn't expected her to escape. And one she made
it to a telegraph office, the whole country would be in an
uproar.
The important thing was that Meg didn't know a thing
about it yet. She was still under the impression that Anne was locked
up, in the hands of her captors.
If she ever found out,
Ratigan's plans would come to ruin! Meg was the only mouse he could
find who even resembled the royal family. If Meg happened to escape
too, because she knew Anne could no longer come to harm, Ratigan
would not be able to find another mouse like her. Besides, it was
vital to get to Denmark as quickly as possible now, before all mouse
kind heard of his existence. He could not spend time looking for
Anne, and Meg if she happened to run off.
Meg... she still was
not his yet. She had asked to be married before she took the throne.
But Ratigan had control over the girl. She had been obedient to him
ever since that day she had tried to escape with Anne. They had found
Anne after Meg had been caught. Ratigan had ordered that Anne be
whipped for their attempted escape, and had told Meg that Anne would
be punished for any mistake done by her friend. Meg had taken all of
his orders and demands without argument ever since.
So
young... so young.
You'll be mine soon, Meg. You'll have to
say yes, or else all that you love and care for will perish.
So
beautiful.
Anne
dragged herself along the train tracks, shaking from mistreatment and
the cold chill of the wind. Some mouse that had come into the baggage
car last night had broken the lock for her. Anne had made a jump off
the train, and had been traveling all night to find a telegraph
office. Basil of Baker Street must know!
She did not realize
Ratigan had two henchmen following her trail.
I
despised him.
That immoral sewer rat had requested that I
share a first class cabin with him. He said it was so we could
continue my training more easily.
I told him I was sleeping on
the floor.
He slapped me in the face and told me not to be so
ridiculous.
He threatened to beat Anne again. I told him to go
ahead; Anne wouldn't approve anyway. Strangely enough, he
relented.
I shivered on the cold floor. Why did this have to
happen to me! Was this payment for my disrespect to the sisters at
the convent, to Basil? Maybe. How else would Ratigan have found out
about the music box?
"No,
Havers, you're stepping on her feet again. She's not going to be able
to walk. NO!" Ratigan barked, as the mouse called Josh Havers
and I had a waltzing lesson. I'm glad it was not with Ratigan. He
said he was too big to be dancing about the cabin, so he employed one
of his henchmen to help me learn. Unfortunately, the clumsy idiot
kept stepping on my feet every other step.
"One two
three, one two three, one- Sorry, miss."
"Ouch!"
"Sorry!"
"That's
it!" Ratigan jumped up and pushed the mouse out of the way,
grasping my paws. He seemed to have forgotten his comment about
dancing before. "Like this, you clumsy fool!" We glided
across the room. "You have to move your feet forward, you idiot!
I can't believe I put up with all of you for so long!"
Even
though I hated him, I had to admit he was a much better dancer than
Josh. I didn't really have to move my feet that much. Ratigan was so
tall, almost twice as tall as me! His arms made mine look like
toothpicks.
Ratigan continued to insult Josh for quite so
time. Once he looked down and saw me there. After that, he stopped
his tirade.
I then realized how easily we danced together. It
scared me.
All of a sudden, we slowed down, and stopped.
Ratigan gave me another one of his queer looks. Wordlessly, he turned
around and left the cabin.
"Boss? Boss!" Josh ran
out into the hallway. A minute later the thug returned, looking
shocked. "The Professor left."
"Where is he?"
I asked.
"I dunno miss."
We waited for over
an hour, silently waiting for his return. After a while I got bored
and started talking to Josh. He had been working for Ratigan for a
year, after his brother had been caught for stealing some of the
professor's loot, and had been killed. Josh had to pay for his
brother's mistake, and serve Ratigan faithfully for 15 years in order
to get his freedom.
"You must hate him more than I
do."
"Umm, not really, miss. The Professor's an okay
guy, you know." I couldn't believe my ears. But then I saw him
glance over his shoulder, as if Ratigan was really there. He was
afraid of the villain's power.
"Josh," I said, a
thought suddenly occurring to me. "How old is the
Professor?"
"Well," he began, "he says
he's somewhere around forty, but I think he's more like fifty five or
sixty."
"Sixty!" I would have never guessed he
was that old. "Then why isn't he married yet?"
"Not
to be rude, ma'am, but do ra- I mean, mice, like him get married?"
I
saw his point. "Then why is he marrying me? I'm seventeen, for
one. I'm also disrespectful, especially to him. Why does he want to
marry me?"
"Miss, you don't look seventeen right
now. You look like you're at least twenty years old. You're drop-dead
gorgeous, if you'll excuse me saying," Josh answered. I blushed.
"Besides, Ratigan himself has said you're strong. He thinks
you'll do better off with him."
"Josh, what would
you be doing if you weren't working for Ratigan? What I mean is, you
don't talk like the other mice that work for Ratigan. You seem more...
gentlemanly."
"I once had a dream to be a violinist.
But that was foolish. No one's dreams ever come true!" he spat
out angrily. "And all because of."
"Ratigan,"
I finished for him. He suddenly looked worried. "I don't care if
he hears me," I said. "He has ruined my life
forever."
Anne
was exhausted. She stumbled down a hill, rolling into a building. She
couldn't move.
An elderly mouse helped her up, saying, "Oh
my goodness! My poor girl, you'll get sick this way! Here, come with
me, easy does it."
"Thank you," she
gasped.
"Less talking will do you a world of good,"
the old mouse said. "Here, sit right here, on this bench."
He helped her down. "Can I notify a family member nearby of your
fall? Maybe they can come get you."
"No!" Anne
answered. She held on to the mouse's worn paw. "Please, we must
help Meg!"
"Meg? I'm sorry, but I do not know any
Meg. Is she sick?"
"Get Basil, quick!" Anne
whispered urgently.
"Sister! Where 'ave you been? We was
so worried!"
The two henchmen ran up to Anne. "No!"
she shrieked. "No, get away from me, scum!"
"What
is this all about?" the old mouse asked.
"Sorry,
sir. See, Anne 'ere is my sister, " GC answered slowly, trying
to hide his gangster voice. "Eh. well, you see, she ain't, I
mean, isn't right in the head. She 'appened to break open a window
last night, and we've been looking for 'er ever since."
"She
said a Meg was in trouble."
"Oh, you know, she gets
hallucinations when she's out in the cold for long. She don't know no
Meg, does she, right, Bob?" GC nudged Tom.
"Bob? I
ain't Bob, GC. Bob's back on the - Ouch!"
GC laughed
nervously. "Always the jokester, eh Bob?" He leaned in to
the old mouse. "Bob's starting to catch the same sickness as my
sister there. It's tragic."
By this time Anne had
fainted, whispering, "Get Basil, Baker Street." before she
sank into oblivion.
"Poor sis! Okay, Bob, let's get poor
Meg, I mean, Annie, 'ere on the next train."
"Don't
you think you should wait here? She doesn't look well enough to
travel," the mouse asked.
"Naw," Tom said.
"She's fine- Ouch!" He bounced on his uninjured
foot.
"What ol' Bob means ta say is that poor sis 'ere
gets mad fits once in a while. We couldn't risk it here." He
lifted Anne up over his shoulder. "Well, thankee for your
kindness, sir. You was a great help, really."
After they
left, the mouse went to the telegraph office. He wanted to straighten
this out with Basil of Baker Street, whoever he was.
RAEB:
Hold on a minute. Ratigan's SIXTY?
Meg: Shhh, not so loud!
Ratigan might be touchy about me guessing that he was sixty, and I
still don't know where he or JWJ are.
RAEB: You could have at
least made him forty. But sixty! That's disturbing. That's
practically Lizz-marrying-Saddam-Hussein disturbing.
Lizz: I
am NOT marrying Saddam Hussein!
Meg: Yeah, the Lizz Mafia
doesn't deal with terrorists. I'll have to kick you out of the Mafia
for that.
RAEB: I thought that mafia was named after Lizz,
ergo "Lizz Mafia"?
Meg: We'll rename it the "Meg
Mafia."
Lizz: We're really off track now.
Meg:
Okay, on to Chapter Seven. And review people! Or else I'll have to
send the Lizz Mafia after you all and make you marry old, sixty year
old guys.
