Book 2

Lands of Wonder

October 1898

Toad Hall, Oxfordshire

While the Sea Rat's first mate, a young shipmouse called Thomas, maintained the Vermin on the Thames (or, as the Sea Rat pointed out, more correctly the Isis at this point), the three animals walked along a peaceful downland. The rolling hills of England were alien territory for all three of the League. Tanya was very much a city mouse, having been born beneath the city of Shotska and spent much of her young adulthood in New York. Countryside in general was unusual to her. And Rikki-tikki, of course, found the landscape very different from the jungles of India. The area was as foreign to the Sea Rat as the others, but unlike them he was used to everywhere being different.

They all, however, had to admit it was a very relaxing place, and they enjoyed the walk from the riverbank to Toad Hall. As they arrived, Rikki-tikki-tavi expressed his amazement, "It's a mansion! But built to our scale, just like the Vermin! Surely all English animals don't live like this?"

"Not so many," said the owner, Mr Toad, as he bustled out to greet them, "In fact, I think this is the last house of its kind in the country. I know Saffy Dormouse calls her place Honeysuckle Hall, but it's just another burrow. The funny thing is the humans never notice it, or if they do they pretend there's nothing surprising about it."

He led them through the corridors and into a guest bedroom, where a hare was lying on the bed, seemingly catatonic. "That's why this poor chap's here, though," Toad explained, "Everyone else I know lives in a hole of one sort or another, and he won't go near them. Turns violent at the thought."

He led Rikki-tikki-tavi to the window, "Now if you're interested in that sort of thing, old chap, you might like to see those ruins out there. Very nearly as grand as the Hall, even I must admit. Back before the humans got here, there were lots of buildings like this. They destroyed most of them, largely without ever wondering what they were."

"Ah," said the Sea Rat, "I've heard of those ruins before. They're even older than Blacktail's ship. They say as that was an abbey run by mice, hundreds of years ago. And there was a great badger kingdom and all sorts of things."

"That's the story," said Toad, "Old Badger told me about it. He's descended from the Badger Lords, he says, and still remembers when the Wild Wood was called the Bellflower."

"Well," said Rikki-tikki, "I think that all seems a bit far-fetched."

The sorry-looking hare suddenly snapped awake and turned on him. "Far-fetched? Far-fetched? How dare you, sirrah? My ancestors fought in the Long Patrol, and don't you say they didn't!"

Rikki-tikki's blood was up. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but if it's a fight you want..."

Tanya stood between them. "Enough!" she snapped. "Marchmont Hare, I presume?"

The hare stopped. "What? Well, yes. Marchmont Hare, at your service. Please, call me March. Pleased to meet you, miss. Sorry if I acted out of turn. I've been under a bit of a strain."

Toad nodded, "He's been like this ever since he emerged from that rabbit hole on the riverbank."

The Sea Rat looked puzzled. "What was a hare doing in a rabbit hole?"

Marchmont shuddered. "Don't ask. There are strange and terrible things down there. Jabberwocks and boojums and gryphons. I fell down it and got caught up in a mad tea-party. If the Queen hadn't called the Hatter away, I'd be there still."

The Sea Rat whispered to Tanya, "Well, Miss M, it looks like the latest member of our band is a lunatic."

"A lunatic with very long ears," snapped the hare.

Tanya now had to position herself between Marchmont and the Sea Rat. Running point on these personalities looked like it was going to be a trying job.

"One more to go," she announced to change the subject, "And we're staying in England this time."

October 1898

Tatchester, Tatchestershire

The house they arrived at next was human-sized. Tanya noticed that Rikki-tikki-tavi seemed quite relieved by that, as if the world was making sense again. They had taken a carriage to get here and had jumped off the back axel just as it passed. Now they slipped in through a crack in the door.

"Who are we meant to be finding here?" Rikki-tikki asked.

"D'Angermouse's note says he's called Hawthorn. No further details apart from the address. Nothing about how to find him or what's special about him."

"Hm. Remind me why it's just the two of us?"

"Well, we couldn't take Marchmont because of his mood swings. And the Sea Rat said that if March was staying on the Vermin, it was his duty to protect the ship in case the hare should turn violent again. So here we are."

They padded through the wainscoting of the house and Tanya poked her head cautiously into the hall."

"Mr Hawthorn? Are you there?"

"Yes?" said a voice, "It's been a while since I heard that name. This place is rather short of my fellows, they all went off on a model boat. Shouldn't really be possible, but there's a bit of what I've heard called dimensional instability about this place, mostly tied up to the young boy who lives here. Power of imagination, I think."

Behind her, Tanya heard Rikki-tikki muttering something about rodent-sized vessels being everywhere.

"In any case," the voice continued, "as the only mouse around here, I'm usually just called Mouse."

"I'll stick to Hawthorn," said Tanya, "We've already got one animal in the group who doesn't use a name." She looked round, "I can't see you."

"I think that's rather why you're asking me to join this group of yours," replied the voice.

Tanya took a second to realise the implication. "You're invisible?"

"That's right. The boy I mentioned; nice chap, doesn't deserve that witch of a governess, had an adventure not that long ago where he acquired some kind of invisibility potion. Well, it was terribly sweet-smelling, and I just couldn't resist. Not that I'm complaining; it comes in handy."

"In what way?" Rikki-tikki-tavi asked.

"Protection," the voice replied cheerily, "I did mention the governess was a witch, didn't I?"

"You did, yes," said Tanya.

"Well, what do you associate with witches?"

Before either Tanya or Rikki-tikki-tavi could respond, two shadows fell over them. They looked up to see two mean-looking cats, one black and one grey.

"Well, what do we have here, Greymalkin?" sneered the black one.

"A mouse, Blackmalkin. A mouse we can actually see. And ... some other rodent."

"Rodent?" snapped Rikki-tikki, his eyes flashing, "I'm a mustelid! As much Carnivora as you are, except I take on prey that actually fights back! Lets see how you like that, eh?"

Since the cats were still twice Rikki-tikki's size, Tanya closed her eyes. But he was right, they were totally unused to their prey being a fighter, generally avoiding even the large rat that prowled the cellar. They hesitated.

On the other hand there were two of them, and only one of Rikki-tikki, so they might still decide to take a chance. And then, there was a third cat, coming from the opposite direction.

Tanya thought that was it for them, but the newcomer seemed to make Blackmalkin and Greymalkin even more uncertain. "Nibbins!" Blackmalkin spat.

"Now, if I were you fellows," Nibbins said softly, "I'd cut my losses and head back to Miss Pouncer. I don't know who these visitors are, but I suspect they're friends of Mouse. And I'm afraid any friend of a friend of Master Kay is a friend of mine. You could probably take me on between you, but the mongoose is an unknown quantity, isn't he? Maybe wait for a better chance?"

The other cats scowled, and wandered in the opposite direction. Nibbins turned to Tanya and Rikki-tikki. "I'd get out of here before they change their minds. I may be a reformed familiar, but I'm still a cat; I can't side with the mice too often, you know."

"Um, thank you," said Tanya, reminded of her brother's friend Tiger, "We just need to know if Hawthorn will join our group."

"I think so," came the voice from the air, "Those cats are getting awfully good at finding me even when I'm invisible. Might be an idea to get away for a bit. Keep an eye on Kay, won't you, Nibbins?"

"Of course, Mouse," replied the cat, "Those witches won't stop him on my watch! And I think the guards will be coming back soon."

"The guards are Kay's toys," Hawthorn explained to Tanya. She nodded. She was aware of the concept of living toys; they had their own community somewhere up near the Arctic, and had taken down the evil Rat King of Germany in the early years of the century.

Rikki-tikki also nodded. He hadn't followed most of this, but staying in the house to protect the boy; that was something he understood.

"Okay," Tanya said, "It looks like our band is complete. Now to find out what this is all about."

[Author's Note: The counterpart of the Invisible Man is me cheating horribly. Firstly, as I allude to, the Mouse in The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights doesn't have a name. I picked Hawthorn because it follows the animal-story tradition of plant names (I really wanted to get more Watership Down into this story, but it was not to be); it sounds a bit like Haw[ley Gri]ffen; and it's a magical and pagan-sacred tree, which seemed kind of appropriate for Masefield's setting. Secondly, the Kay Harker books are very firmly set in the Edwardian era, and I have chosen to completely ignore this because I couldn't think of a better character. Thus it goes.]