Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.

Once Choroline had finished fuming at the walls, she took Miley to a new cell, loping languidly on all fours as she led Miley through the hallways and stairwells in icy silence. Climbing one stairwell, Miley started to feel that there were eyes on her. She looked about, but didn't see anything at first. Gazing up into the darkness of a stairwell on her right, however, she saw something move in the shadows. Stopping and craning her neck to look more closely as Choroline loped obliviously ahead, Miley saw the outline of a duck. The duck stepped briefly into the light, and Miley saw that it held a single key in its beak. Miley smiled but said nothing, resuming her path behind Choroline as the duck stepped back into the shadows.

At the end of the hallway, Choroline turned and descended another stairwell. Miley was about to step onto the first stair when she heard a door open quietly nearby. Looking sideways down the hall, she saw a single leaf unfurling from the closest doorway. Curled up in that leaf was another key. Almost as soon as it had appeared, the leaf disappeared back into the doorway, and Miley heard a quiet click as the door shut again. Smiling inwardly, Miley continued to follow Choroline down the stairs.

On the next hallway, Miley saw two woodchucks standing in the shadowy doorway of an unlit room. Each held a key in its hand. Miley's eyes widened, but she betrayed no other emotion as she continued walking. Halfway down the hallway, Miley saw a woodland habitat behind a large, rectangular window. Inside the habitat, squirrels ran to and fro, hunting for nuts and chasing each other up and down trees. Looking more closely, Miley saw a squirrel and a rabbit leaning side by side against one of the trees. The rabbit had a key secured in one of its ears, and the squirrel held yet another key in its paws.

Choroline led Miley down one more flight of stairs, then stopped at a doorway. She stood upright and opened the door, motioning for Miley to go in. Miley obeyed expressionlessly. Only when she heard the door shut behind her did Miley allow herself to show any emotion, but once she was sure Choroline was gone, she burst into laughter, though she did try to laugh as quietly as she could, just in case someone was listening by unknown means.

Some time passed silently before the door to Miley's cell opened again. Standing in the doorway was Krokylus. His right wrist was wrapped in a simple brace, and he carried a tray of food with his left arm.

"Eat," he commanded.

"Gladly," Miley said with a smile.

While Miley ate, Krokylus stood in the doorway, watching her eat, his reptilian face inscrutable. When Miley had finished her food, she handed the tray back to him, which he took.

"Now," Krokylus said, "you will explain to me how my keys have disappeared again."

Miley laughed. "You know as well as I do that I haven't had the chance to steal your keys," she said.

"I said nothing to imply that you had," Krokylus said. "I asked how they disappeared, because I think you know."

Miley shook her head slowly, a wry smile touching her lips. "I really don't."

"Maybe if I hurt your friend you will tell me," Krokylus threatened.

"Hurting her won't make me know things I don't know," Miley said. "But if you don't have your keys, someone does, which means I'll get out of here sooner or later. If I find out you laid one claw on her, I'll kill you."

"You don't have it in you," said Krokylus.

"Not now, I don't," said Miley. "I've seen the good in you, which is why I didn't lock you in that icebox. I could have killed you then, but I thought you deserved the chance to live. If you hurt her, though, I won't give you the same benefit of the doubt next time."

Krokylus looked Miley up and down, examining her. At last, he spoke. "I won't hurt your friend," he said, "but I will find those keys." Abruptly, he turned and disappeared into the hallway, slamming the door behind him.

x.x.x

Miley fell asleep not long after her conversation with Krokylus. She was awakened by the deafening sound of trumpets, jolting her into a standing position. Looking around her cell, her eyes finally fell on two audio speakers mounted in two of the top corners of the room.

The noise of the trumpets died down and was replaced by the voice of Krokylus. "All stand ready and hail," he said over the speakers. "The Rodent King has arrived."

Miley snapped to a military salute. "All hail the Rodent King," she said with a laugh. "King of Cooties, Majesty of Muck, Sultan of the Sewers!" she went on, making herself laugh even more. Her laughter was short-lived, though, as she thought about how much she missed hearing Lilly laugh, and how she especially missed making Lilly laugh.

"We'll get out of this," Miley encouraged herself.

A minute later, the door to Miley's cell opened, and Choroline stood in the doorway. "You will bathe now," Choroline said tersely. "Then you will be fed. Then it will be time for the Masquerade Ball."

Miley followed Choroline, who led her to the same lavatory that Krokylus had taken her to previously. After her shower, she dressed in a pink leotard that had been left on the back of the couch in the middle of the room. No sooner had she dressed, making sure to once again secure the bag of catnip in her bra, than Choroline brought in a tray of food, which Miley ate eagerly. Once Miley finished her meal, Choroline motioned for Miley to follow her.

Choroline led Miley in a definitively upward direction. They passed through several hallways and stairwells, always going up. At last, they emerged from a stairwell to face a large, metal double door. Choroline approached a lever to the right of the doorway and pulled it down. Slowly, creaking and scraping, the doors opened inward and Choroline led Miley through them and into the room beyond.

"Welcome to the Great Hall, you ingrate," Choroline growled.

Miley took in her surroundings. The Great Hall was an immense, perfectly square room. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all a sandy golden color. Set up all about the floor of the Great Hall were tables covered in elegant tablecloths and heaps and mounds of food. On the wall to Miley's right was a small stage with two microphone stands in front of two bar stools. In front of the stage was a triangular stack of tree trunks, all cut and sanded to a standard size.

Against the ceiling opposite from where Miley stood was a gray metal platform in the midst of some sort of machinery. The machinery consisted of a great number of gears, large and small. Miley didn't have a clue as to the purpose of the machinery. Beside the machinery was a clear, glass cube that was somehow attached to the ceiling. Opposite the glass cube, nearly directly above where Miley stood now, was another glass cube.

"Come along," Choroline said, walking away from Miley. Looking ahead of Choroline, Miley saw what looked like an old-fashioned elevator. She followed Choroline to it, and Choroline pulled the elevator's cage-style door and stepped into the compartment. Miley followed behind her. Choroline pulled the door shut again and pushed a button. The elevator rose, and soon Miley found herself stepping out of the elevator and through a glass door into the glass cube across the room from the strange machinery. The glass cube next to the machinery was mounted directly opposite from her own, and she could see inside it clearly. It was empty for the time being.

"This is where you will sing and dance," said Choroline. "There are microphones that will pick up your voice, so you needn't worry about being heard."

Choroline turned and departed from the glass cube, shutting the glass door behind her and locking it. She returned to the elevator and soon disappeared from sight.

Miley turned back around to see movement in the glass cube across from her. Rats were scurrying about, but a figure trudged behind them. Miley ran up to the edge of her own cube, pressing her hands and face against the glass, and realized with a gasp that the figure being led into the other cube was Lilly.

"What now?" Miley wondered to herself. She turned around to start pacing, but as she briefly looked at the floor of her cube, she became dizzy. The floor was a long way down, and she was surrounded on all sides by open air. She closed her eyes and her world stopped spinning. Slowly, she opened her eyes again, taking in her surroundings from this new elevation, slowly adjusting. That was when she remembered Dwayne's plan. "Just find something to hang on to and leave the rest to me," he had said.

Miley looked all around her cube for something to hold onto, but there was nothing. The entire cube was nothing but smooth glass. As she searched for something, anything she might be able to get a grip on, creatures started to file into the hall beneath her.

Giving up on finding some sort of handhold, Miley watched the attendees of the Masquerade Ball as they entered. Each and every one of them, duck and deer, horse and hare, wore a mask. But the masks were not standard masquerade style masks. Straining her eyes a bit at the distance, Miley saw that the masks had faces. As the woodchucks began to file in, Miley saw a familiar face on a particularly large woodchuck. Dwayne the woodchuck was wearing a mask depicting his former self, The Rock.

All the creatures were wearing masks depicting their former identities. "Creepy," Miley whispered to herself, shivering a little.

Soon, the Great Hall was filled with masked creatures, former humans masquerading as the people they once were. The trumpets sounded again, and all the creatures stood at attention. On the metal platform across the Great Hall from Miley's cube, Krokylus had appeared, standing tall and holding a staff.

"All bow," Krokylus thundered, "for now into the Great Hall enters the Rodent King!"

There was a sound of screeching metal and Miley saw a door in the ceiling open up, revealing a small patch of the roiling purple sky she had seen above her when she had first arrived. Then the patch of sky disappeared as something was lowered through the opening. It was a throne, its golden arms and feet flashing brightly. The throne was twice the width of a normal throne, looking more like a loveseat. The cushion upon it was a bright, royal crimson. The throne was lowered by ropes onto the metal platform and set in the very center of it. Krokylus slashed the ropes with his good claw, and the ropes were pulled back through the opening in the ceiling.

Once the ropes had disappeared, a rope ladder was dropped from the opening, reaching down to the platform. Then, pink nose first, the Rodent King scurried down the ladder and settled upon his throne. Miley crinkled her face up in disgust.

The Rodent King was a rat the size of a Volkswagen. At her distance, if Miley couldn't tell if he was the size of a Bug or a Van, but definitely something in the Volkswagen brand. Comparing his size to Krokylus, she guessed the Rodent King was closer to the size of a Bug. Upon his head sat a golden crown. He took up most of the throne and seemed to be looking disdainfully upon his subjects bowing beneath him.

With a squeak and a few disgusting smacking sounds, the Rodent King spoke. "Let the festivities begin," he said.