CHAPTER THREE: THE BANQUET

The banquet was held two days later. Ian was up and about, but stayed in his room. As Barnes had predicted, the wounds were still giving Ian some pain, but the newcomer made his way to the main hall with some assistance from the doctor.

On the way to the feast, Ian glanced about the corridors he was led through, wonder in his eye. "This is incredible. How far down are we?"

"Oh, about five or six feet," replied Barnes. "This is the lowest of the living levels. Storage and suchforth is below us. The main hall is just a little ways ahead. I think we should use the service entrance. Otherwise, you'll be mobbed."

"Everybody's still that excited about me?"

"Darn right," Barnes said. "They're dying to meet you. Don't plan on doing much eating today. You'll be too busy answering questions to get a bite in edgewise. Ah, here we are." Barnes showed Ian through a pantry of sorts, where several females momentarily stopped work on the meals they were preparing to stare at the newest member of the colony.

"Back to work, girls," Barnes chortled. "You can gawk at him later."

Ian was glad to leave the pantry, but one glance at the dozens of rats that were waiting for him in the main hall made him wish he were back in his room.

Ian and Barnes had stepped out of the pantry onto a raised platform at the front of the main hall. Many long tables were set up in the spacious dining chamber, and each table was crowded with curious onlookers. Ian felt his skin crawl upon realizing that so many eyes were upon him. He made a quick estimate that there were well over a hundred rats in the room.

Another long table stood upon the platform. Seated at it were a number of elegantly-dressed rats. Justin was among them. The leader of the rats rose and motioned for Ian to approach. "Welcome, Ian," Justin said, bowing. "I trust you're feeling better?"

"Fine … but I wasn't expecting all this."

"I hope you find everything to your liking." A female whose place was beside Justin's at the table stood up and came forward. "Ah, Ian, may I present my wife, Elizabeth."

The female spread her splendid gown and curtsied deeply. Ian started to return a bow, but the pain in his back made him straighten up again. "A pleasure, my lady," was all Ian could think of to say.

"The pleasure is mine." Elizabeth returned to her seat. Justin showed Ian to an empty place on his other side. Ian had been given only a simple cloak to wear, and felt out of place among all the fancy dress, including Justin's, which consisted of magnificent ceremonial robes over his brightly-colored tunic.

Justin indicated the others at the table and said to Ian, "I don't want to bother you with names at this time, but suffice to say, these are the members of the Council - the decision-makers of the colony."

"Hello." Ian addressed the entire group as best he could with that one word.

Justin again stood and spoke to all the rats in the hall. "Friends, this feast is held in honor of an extraordinary individual, whose arrival in Thorn Valley is a great event in our history. Ever since our escape from NIMH ten years ago, we have assumed that we were alone in the world, forever set apart from other rats by the intelligence and long lifespans that our human captors' experiments left us with. Now we know differently. There are more like us elsewhere, and one of them has reached us to let us know that there is still hope for our kind beyond this valley. We are alone no more!"

Wild applause broke out. Justin waited for the noise to die down, then continued, "The Council met last evening, and our decision to make Ian a permanent member of the colony was unanimous." More applause followed, together with calls for a speech from Ian.

"Do you feel up to it?" Justin asked him.

"I guess so." Ian got to his feet. When the cheers stopped, he said, "I'm not very good at speeches, so I won't give you one. Let me just say that I'm … well, I'm in awe of all you have accomplished here, and I'll certainly contribute what I can to this society."

After Ian sat back down, Justin called out, "Enough talking! Let this banquet begin!"

The food was brought in, plateful after plateful of it to each and every table. Ian couldn't believe his eyes at the display; there were several types of meat, both dried and hot, as well as fish, lavish salads, and steaming muffins and bread loaves. It was all topped off by goblets of a mild red berry wine.

The feast went on and on. Ian answered questions from the Council as he ate, mostly about his journey from NIMH. "Is it true," asked one, "that you used fire to defend yourself from larger animals?"

"Yes," Ian replied, and told a story of how he found a half-full cigarette lighter and made it a weapon against predators. He told more stories, and still the questions kept coming.

Finally it was over, everyone having had their fill, and some even more than that. Justin got up for one final announcement. "My friends, I have one more piece of news. Yesterday, I made an agreement with the other animals of the valley that we would no longer trap or hunt them for food. In exchange, they will leave our crops alone."

The other rats were stunned. "But we need our meat!" one cried out.

"And you'll still have it," Justin said. "Birds and fish were not part of the deal; we can still trap them, as well as foxes, bobcats, and any other large predators. Plus, we've got enough dried meats in storage to last a year. The crops are what we have to look out for now."

Nothing else was said, but there was proof enough in the faces of the crowd that Justin's latest decision had not gone over well with most of the colony.

Barnes appeared through the pantry door and escorted Ian back to his room.

"Where did you go?" Ian asked the doctor once they were out of the pantry. "I didn't see you at the banquet."

"I was with a patient." Barnes replied, eyes on the floor. "He didn't make it."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Yes, well, so am I." Barnes saw Ian to bed. "I'd advise you to get plenty of sleep tonight. Tomorrow, you become a full member of the colony."