Chapter 7
Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.
Cantari led Miley up two more floors, then exited the stairwell into a hallway.
"Where to now?" Miley asked.
"Down this hall is another staircase that should lead us to where your friend is being held," replied Cantari.
Miley and Cantari set off down the hallway together, but Miley came to the staircase first. "Up or down?" she asked.
"Up," said Cantari. Immediately, Miley was off again, bounding up the stairs at breakneck speed. "Two flights!" Cantari called out as he tried to catch up to Miley.
Miley climbed the two flights and came to another hallway. She waited at the top of the stairs, not sure which of the five doors in the hallway was hiding her best friend. Cantari soon joined her, pointing a wing at the third door from the staircase. "That's where she was when I last saw her," he explained.
"Let's hope they haven't moved her," Miley said grimly. She came to the door and started going through the key ring, trying to figure out which keys might fit. Cantari came up beside her.
"Try this one," he said, pointing to a small brass key between two silver keys. Miley stuck the key into the keyhole and turned it. The doorknob turned obediently, and Miley pushed the door open, her eyes wide and hopeful.
The hopeful expression on Miley's face dropped as the room behind the door was revealed. The room was another featureless, black-walled cell. In the center of the room, Krokylus held Lilly, his right arm restraining Lilly at the shoulders, his right claw hanging limp in the air. He held his left claw to Lilly's neck, one sharp nail lightly stroking her carotid artery. Fear was evident in Lilly's eyes, but she made no sound or movement.
"Let her go!" Miley screamed.
"Gladly," Krokylus said, "once you're back in your cell and that songbird sings no more."
"Please don't hurt her," Miley begged, doing her best to keep tears from forming in her eyes. "I'll do whatever you want."
"The rats are on the way to take you back to your cell," said Krokylus. "You will return my keys and go with them, and I will let your pretty friend live."
"Leave Cantari alone, too!" said Miley.
"You are in no position to bargain," Krokylus threatened.
Cantari chimed in from beside Miley. "Just go back to your cell," he said quietly. "This is the end of nothing, but now is not the time to fight." With that, Cantari half ran, half fluttered down the hallway and into the stairwell, disappearing from sight.
Miley nodded slowly. "I'll go," she said to Krokylus. "Just don't hurt her." Miley tossed the key ring onto the floor in front of her and backed away from the doorway slowly. Krokylus dropped his left claw from Lilly's neck, though he still held her in place.
Presently, the chittering creatures that Miley had heard when she had first been pulled from the water arrived in the hallway, filling the corridor with their vocalizations. Turning her head, Miley saw half a dozen rat-like creatures walking upright in her direction. These rat-men were smaller than most of the other creatures Miley had seen. Based on their size, they could have been children, but Miley doubted that Krokylus' enforcers were children. She turned to them and put her hands in the air. "I won't fight," she said dispiritedly.
The rats went into formation around Miley, three behind her and three ahead of her. Obediently, she followed them as they led her down the hall to the stairwell. She looked back only once, but there was little to see. The door to Lilly's cell had been closed, and Krokylus stood silently beside it.
Five minutes later, Miley found herself back in the cell she had been placed in upon her arrival. After the rats left, she peered into the next cell. "Dwayne?" she called out in a loud whisper. "Dwayne, are you still there?"
"I just got back, actually," came the reply. Dwayne stepped into the light. He was a bit furrier than he had been the last time Miley had seen him, but otherwise he seemed unchanged.
"Are you all right?" Dwayne asked. "You look exhausted. And your arm is all scratched up."
"I almost escaped, I think. But Choroline and Krokylus were one step ahead of me."
"Krokylus always is," Dwayne said.
"Not always," Miley said.
"What do you mean?" asked Dwayne.
"I stole his keys," Miley explained. "He has to freeze himself nearly to death to keep from turning nice. I was able to get his keys while he was cold, but once he was warmed back up, he was faster and meaner than ever."
Dwayne lowered his head, looking thoughtful. After a few moments, he looked back up. "I have a plan," he said. "During the Masquerade Ball, you will be locked in a glass cage. I can get you out of it, but you'll have to take it from there."
"How can you get me out?" Miley asked, her speech quickening in excitement.
"Just find something to hang on to and leave the rest to me," Dwayne said. "Oh, and a duck told me to give this to you."
Dwayne held out a hand, and Miley saw that he was holding a medium sized Ziploc bag. She took it and held it up to the light. The bag was filled with some sort of herb or spice, but Miley wasn't quite sure what it was. "Did the duck say anything else?" she asked.
"He told me to put the price of the bag on his bill," Dwayne replied with a chuckle.
Miley opened the bag and sniffed at the contents. "Catnip," she said to herself. A smile spread across her face. "Catnip!" she said, laughing a little now.
"You know what to do with it?" Dwayne questioned.
"I know exactly what to do with it," Miley said. "It's just a matter of when." Miley slipped the Ziploc bag into her bra, as there were no pockets on the clothing with which she had been provided.
x.x.x
Later, food was brought and Miley ate hungrily. Some indeterminate time after that, Miley raised her head from where she was curled up against the wall, hearing light padding coming toward her from the hallway. Soon, Choroline appeared at the door of her cell.
"Get up. It is time to rehearse," Choroline declared tersely. "I hope you have plenty of energy. Rehearsal will be long and strenuous. I have had to take over the duties of Song Master. No trickery or disobedience will be tolerated."
Miley stuck her tongue out at Choroline, but got up nonetheless and walked to the cell door, which Choroline had opened. As Miley stepped into the hallway, Choroline hissed loudly at her. Miley turned around and, without much forethought, punched Choroline in her whiskered face. Choroline stumbled backwards, hissing again.
"I don't want to hear it, Choroline," Miley said. "You said no disobedience and no trickery. You didn't tell me not to punch you, and a punch in the face is not a trick. It's just payment for services rendered." Miley hissed at Choroline to punctuate her point.
Choroline crinkled her nose disapprovingly. "If you don't want more scratches like the ones I gave you earlier, you will not do that again," she said.
"I wonder what the Rodent King would think of you threatening to scratch up his star entertainer," Miley said. "Krokylus said I was too pretty to turn into an animal. Surely that means I'm to pretty to be damaged in such a way."
One of Choroline's paws shot out and struck Miley in the face, but the claws were retracted. Miley felt like she had been hit in the face with a teddy bear, and she laughed. "Come on, cat-woman," Miley said. "We've got a show to put on, whether you like your star performer or not. Let's get to work."
Miley set off toward the stairwell while Choroline stood frozen in dismay at how the tables had been turned on her.
"Are you coming or not?" Miley demanded as she reached the stairwell. "I don't remember how to get to your studio."
Choroline purred dangerously as she passed Miley and started up the stairs, but Miley knew the vocalizations were empty of any real threat.
Soon, Miley was following Choroline's warm-up routine in the dance studio. When that was done, Choroline ran Miley through the dance routine for the Ball again, making only a few minor corrections. Following that, Miley ran through the dance while singing the song. By the end of the song and dance, Choroline's hair was standing on end and her eyes were flashing with barely contained rage.
"What's your problem?" Miley asked. "I hit every note and every step just right."
"I'm just waiting for you to give me an excuse to rip you to shreds," Choroline hissed.
Miley smiled scornfully. "And I'm not giving you any excuses," she said. "You'd love it if you could go to your Rodent King and tell him that I wasn't worth the trouble, so you went ahead and scratched me up real good. But you can't. I'm not just the best you've got, I'm the best you could ever get. So for all your desire to hurt me, you can't."
Choroline let out a frustrated feline grunt and stormed over to the other side of the dance studio, where she stood staring into the corner and making angry mewling noises.
"A practical question," Miley called out. Choroline turned her flashing eyes on Miley. "How did you get to be such a good dancer," Miley said, "without learning how to deal with a diva? I mean, I don't even have my diva switch turned all the way on, and you're about to explode."
In response, Choroline hissed loudly and turned back to the corner of the room.
"What's eating you, kitty-cat?" Miley asked.
Choroline whipped her head around again. "You betray the Rodent King by trying to escape and turning his people against him, and then you have the gall to use his name to manipulate me," she said. Miley could see that Choroline was shaking. "Why shouldn't I hate you?"
"You should be helping me," Miley said. "Wouldn't you like to escape?"
"Escape?" Choroline shrieked. "This is my home!"
"You're here by choice?" Miley asked incredulously.
"Not at first," Choroline said, her voice returning to a normal tone, though it still shook with emotion. "But over time, I came to love it here. Now, you and your friend stand to destroy everything."
"I don't understand," Miley said.
"You are the Rodent King's new star," Choroline said, the tremor in her voice growing. "You will eventually replace me."
"You love him," Miley gasped.
Choroline spat angrily at the floor and turned her gaze back to the corner of the room.