And then, there began a very unpleasant scuffle during which Arnold's sword was knocked from his hand, and he fell to the ground under the weight of the giant rat. Helganna let out a small scream and froze in her tracks when the R.O.U.S. attacked, unable for several seconds to do anything besides mutter very rapidly in a jittery, high-pitched sort of voice something that sounded like: "IhateratsIhateratsIhateratsIhateratsIhateratsIhaterats!..." but she was soon shocked out of her stupor by the noise of growling behind her. She turned slowly and apprehensively, and was not at all delighted at the sight of a small army of the rodents emerging from the trees nearby. Whirling around again, she saw that Arnold was still wrestling with the first R.O.U.S. He was trying desperately to pry it off before it could reach his face. The R.O.U.S. refused to cooperate, scratching at his arms and wounded shoulder with its claws. Spotting the fallen sword, Helganna grabbed the weapon and tried to help, but man and rat were rolling around in such a tangle of hair and blood and torn clothes and mud it would be impossible for her to attack the beast without accidently hurting Arnold, and impossible for him to use the sword himself.
The snarling of the other R.O.U.S.s rose in volume, and suddenly, one foot was wrenched out from under her. She collapsed, gritting her teeth as the second rodent began to gnaw at her boot. Helganna kicked at it with her good leg. There was a satisfactory yelp of pain when a blow hit the creature's stomach, and it leapt off. Immediately, however, it turned and crouched to spring forward again. She scrambled to her feet, thankful she had not dropped the sword. She lunged toward the charging R.O.U.S. Somehow, she managed to gore it directly on the point of the blade and the R.O.U.S. fell to the ground, dead. Helganna shivered unhappily. "Yechhh!" she said to herself, pulling the sword out. "I hate rats!" She stepped back carefully, eyeing the other rodents and holding the weapon firmly in both hands in case of a following attack. The R.O.U.S.s, though, had forgotten all about her, and had busily begun eating their fallen comrade. "YECHHH!" she said again, thoroughly disgusted.
She turned to look for Arnold. Although still fighting, he was badly scratched and was clearly receiving the worse end of the deal. He had managed to pummel the rat enough that it was no longer clawing at him so fiercely, but still, it relentlessly snapped its horrible teeth mere inches from his nose and would not let go. To make matters worse, another R.O.U.S. had joined the fray, trying to get a hold on his legs. Helganna limped over to the three, picking up a heavy branch as she went. "Get off!" she shouted, flinging the branch at the second R.O.U.S. Her aim wasn't too terrific, but the branch did collide with its target. Startled, the R.O.U.S. shrieked and flinched aside. A swift kick from her boot and a stab from the sword sent it reeling away. Meanwhile, in the midst of his struggling, Arnold heard a distinct noise nearby--a popping sound. Concentrating, he rolled with the large R.O.U.S. towards the source of the popping, stopping once the beast was directly over the spot. A column of flames shot from the ground and the rat gave a bloodcurdling roar. It jerked away, howling as it tried to put out the blaze on its back. Freed at last from the rat's claws, Arnold staggered to his feet. "The sword," he gasped. "NOW!" Helganna tossed it to him; he caught it and thrust it into the singed animal several times until finally it lay dead, wisps of smoke still rising from its scorched hair.
By this point, the other R.O.U.S.s had finished their meal and were now advancing on the two humans with savage looks in their eyes. "Quick!" exclaimed Arnold, grabbing Helganna's hand. They darted away as fast as they could go, the vicious creatures in hot pursuit. Fortunately for them, the R.O.U.S.s were distracted at the last second by what was left of the smoking rat. Instead of pursuing their prey, the rodents turned to devour the carcass like ravenous wolves. Relieved, Arnold and Helganna lost no time escaping farther into the swamp.
They had been in the bog for an hour. It turned out to be the easiest hour of the six it would take to cross it. But cross it they did, hand very much in hand.