CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: BACK TO TOWN

Justin sat on the dashboard of Harry's car and watched with childlike fascination as the miles rolled by. The journey that took the rats weeks to make on foot was now being done by car in half a day. Justin, whose only previous traveling in an automobile had been done in a dark, windowless trunk, viewed the scenes flashing by with an interest that bordered on wonder.

Ian was a good deal less enthusiastic about the trip, partly due to the pain and weakness he still felt from the treatment. He stayed in his box, which Harry had brought along, on the passenger side of the front seat.

As Ian had suspected, the return call from the county sheriff never came, so he had joined Harry and Justin for a drive to the heart of the problem. Ian was somewhat unnerved by the prospect of again facing Jenner; he was sure the murderous rat would not have forgotten the crossbow bolt Ian had left in his arm.

When, early in the afternoon, Justin announced that they were getting close to the town's outskirts, Ian stood up in his box. "Justin, tell Harry to slow down and be on the lookout for anything strange. I don't know what we're going to find here, but I think we should be ready for anything."

None of them were ready for what happened next. As Justin was relaying Ian's message to Harry, the road on either side of them exploded. The force of the blasts sent the car spinning out of control. Harry fought the wheel to keep the auto on the road, but he was helpless. The car sped down the embankment and smashed head-on into a tree.

The impact made both side doors fly open, while the car's front end collapsed and crumpled like tin foil around the tree trunk. Then all was still.

A few seconds later Justin fell out of the passenger side to the ground. He was dazed, and blood flowed from a gash on his forehead. He staggered a few steps away from the wrecked automobile, then his strength gave out and he collapsed onto the soft earth, unconscious.

When he woke up, Justin found Ian standing over him, wrapping a makeshift bandage of cloth around his headwound. "What happened?" Justin moaned.

"Near as I can tell, Jenner's dynamited the road." Ian pinned the bandage in place. "Harry's dead."

Justin was quiet as the terrible news sank in. "I'm sorry, Ian, I know you two were good friends. I suppose we were fortunate to have survived the crash ourselves."

"It wasn't the crash that killed him," Ian said through gritted teeth.

"Huh?"

"Here, I'll show you. Are you okay to walk?"

Justin got uncertainly to his feet. "I think so."

"Follow me." Ian led Justin under the car to the driver's side. Harry sat slumped over the steering wheel, unmoving. Ian jumped up onto the running board and pointed to the human's feet. "Look at this."

The bottom of Harry's left pants leg was shredded to ribbons. Ian drew aside the torn cloth to reveal a number of deep cuts in the skin just above the ankle. "Wouldn't one of Hugo's lances make wounds like that?"

"I suppose so," said Justin.

Ian rubbed a forepaw in one slash until it was bloody, then held his stained hand up to Justin's face. "Take a sniff of that."

Justin inhaled. A sharp odor that burned his sinuses filled his nose, and he coughed to get it out. "What is it?"

"Cyanide." Ian hopped out and went to the front of the car, where he washed his forepaw with water trickling out of the radiator. "Jenner's guards killed Harry."

Justin was confused. "Well, where are they now? And why didn't they pick us up?"

"It looks like we were out for several hours … plenty of time for them to have been here and gone again," Ian said. "As for us, the guards would have been looking for humans, not rats. I was lying under the front seat, and you were on the other side of the car. They simply overlooked us."

"So, what now?"

"We've got to kill Jenner. We must get the stone away from him, and to do that, we must kill him first. It's the only way."

"But as long as he wears the amulet, Jenner's invincible!" Justin cried.

Ian pondered a moment. "We can't take the stone from Jenner while he's alive, and we can't kill him as long as he's wearing it. That's a nasty little vicious circle. Still, we've got to try."

"Yes," Justin agreed. "And time's running out. Lucy said she was going to call the National Guard if Harry hadn't phoned her by tomorrow morning."

"She did?" Ian gazed up at the car. "Well, Harry sure won't be calling her now. Come on. If we walk fast, we may be able to reach town by nightfall."

Justin had thoughtfully brought along his sword and the crossbow. Ian retrieved the weapons from the car, and the two of them started for the town.

Ian spoke as they walked. "If Jenner's mined this road, we can assume that he's mined all the other roads going into town. That would mean he has control of the entire town. I hate to say this, Justin, but this situation may already be out of our hands."

Justin looked up at the forest around them. The road was the only sign of human civilization in sight. He could easily understand why Jenner had chosen to cut off the isolated little town from the rest of the human world. But how had he managed to keep it a secret?

Ian and Justin were rounding a bend in the road when a figure jumped out of the underbrush and shouted, "Halt!" It was another rat, dressed in the uniform of a Colony Guard. He brandished an electric lance threateningly. Justin instinctively made a move for his sword, then thought better of it.

"What business do you have here?" he asked.

"It's me! Justin, your old president. And this is Ian, the doctor. We're going into town."

"Why?"

"We're going to see Jenner," Ian said.

The guard hesitated a moment, uncertain what to do, then motioned with his lance for them to travel on. "In that case I'll take you to see Jenner myself. Now, get moving, sirs."