In the dark of night, Josh's party made their way across the freezing desert, back towards the Lee of the Stone. After being swept over the waterfall, the current had carried them far downriver, before finally washing them up onto a sandbank in the middle of nowhere. Ditching the wrecked raft, they had continued on from there on foot, using Josh's navigation aids to make their way back.

For a whole day and night, they had been trekking across the desert; hunger and fatigue were quickly wearing them down, but the knowledge that they would soon be home kept their spirits up. Sure enough, as they climbed to the top of a ridge, they saw the edge of the green forest surrounding the Lee of the Stone in the distance. They were almost there!

Elizabeth turned to look at Josh, lovingly taking his hand. The astronaut smiled at her; for the first time in days, he truly felt like he was going someplace he could call home. The grim discovery that he was cut off forever from Earth, his home time, and even his own species, felt like a lifetime ago. Now, the sight of the Lee of the Stone, a place of happiness and love, felt so welcoming, so very unlike the abandoned ruins of the NIMH-One wreck he'd left behind in Thorn Valley.

"Look!"

Suddenly, as they made their way towards the trees, they were all caught by surprise at the sight of another group of Rats on rabbit-drawn chariots, who had emerged from the forest not too far away, riding out into the desert at breakneck speed. From the light of their flaming torches, they could see that some of the charioteers were carrying something, which, from afar, looked horribly like the bodies of smaller Rats. Within seconds, the cavalry had disappeared beyond the sand dunes and was gone.

"Who do you suppose they were?" asked Mr Ages suspiciously, staring at Justin and Brutus, "You don't think it's some of your boys from Rosebush City out looking for us?"

"I doubt it," said Justin, shaking his head, "The Great Desert is beyond our borders; Nicodemus wouldn't send out a search party unless he knew we were in some kind of trouble."

"Damn right," said Brutus with a frown, equally suspicious at seeing an unidentified cavalry riding out into hostile territory in the dark of night, "If I didn't know better, I'd say they were a party of bandits out on a raid…" The words of the burly Rat made the others freeze in their tracks, suddenly realising what they had just seen: it had been an Exiles' raiding party, returning from a raid…from the Lee of the Stone!

Elizabeth was the first to break the silence, "Oh, my goodness, my children…!"

"Let's go!"

With Justin in the lead, they hurried through the trees, following the footpath towards the farm. Coming to the edge of the plantation, they saw the bandits had been there all right: The field was a scene of devastation, all of the crops crushed or uprooted by the giant rabbits' paws which had come charging in through the fence from all directions it seemed. On the far side of the plantation, the Brisby home was dark and silent, seemingly deserted. The usual sound of the children's laughter, playing around the fire in the kitchen was absent. Something was very wrong.

"Martin! Teresa! Cynthia! Timmy! Auntie Shrew!" called Elizabeth, running towards her home, sick with worry. Had something happened to her family? But Justin, following right behind, held her back.

"Wait, Biff, it could be an ambush," he said, his military instincts trying to determine whether they had any unwelcome company lurking about, expecting them, "We need to be careful."

Vigilant and with their weapons drawn, Josh, Justin and Brutus cautiously approached the house, leaving an indignant Mr Ages to keep a fretting Elizabeth calm until they had secured the area.

Using his thermal goggles to see in the dark without having to use his bright suit lights, which would draw attention, Josh, his Taser in one hand and a sword he had taken off the body of one of the Exiles back at Thorn Valley in the other, approached the front door, Justin and Brutus in tow.

The signs of forced entry were evident; the front door stood ajar, having been broken in by a tree trunk used as a battering ram, which still lay on the porch. The house was dark, the fireplace and lamps all extinguished, apparently by the intruders to cover their retreat. Making their way downstairs to the kitchen, they split up and began looking.

Josh frowned as he saw Elizabeth's beautiful home had been worked on quite extensively; furniture lay broken and overturned, every cupboard, drawer or shelf turned inside out, completely ransacked. Smashed pottery and other utensils littered the floor, indicating the aftermath of a violent struggle. The children were nowhere to be found. But the place was not altogether deserted.

Behind the overturned kitchen table, the inferred vision of the goggles suddenly revealed the dimming thermal outline of someone lying on the floor– or rather, the body of someone who had been alive until a little while ago.

Removing his goggles and switching on his suit lights, Josh froze in shock as he laid eyes on a scene of ghastly horror on the floor. It was Auntie Shrew, her abdomen split wide open, her entrails protruding from the gaping wound, looking as if she had met Jack the Ripper in person. Her lifeless eyes were still wide open, frozen in an expression of anguish and horror, apparently from her failed struggle to fend off her attackers. Her trusty walking stick lay beside her, viciously broken in two, no doubt having been of little use against her savage attackers, who had also kidnapped the children under her care.

Josh didn't know how long he stood there, petrified at the sight of this massacre, before he finally found his voice, "Everybody down here, now!"

Justin and Brutus came running into the room, swords drawn, followed by Elisabeth and Mr Ages. Not surprisingly, the terrible sight of Auntie Shrew's disembowelled corpse caused instant horror. Elizabeth screamed and collapsed in a dead faint; Mr Ages turned away in sickening horror and retched; Justin and Brutus stood transfixed, appalled by the savage crime. In his hand, Justin held an all-too-familiar top-sawn-off Rat's skull he'd found lying on Timmy's empty bed. It was all too obvious what had happened; the Exiles had beaten them back here and snatched the children away.

Josh, his stomach churning, picked up the hearth rug and covered up the dead Auntie Shrew, before joining the others outside, who were being violently sick in the garden patch. Elizabeth had come to and was sobbing hysterically in Justin's arms, realising her children had fallen into the hands of the same savage bandits that had been hunting them down.

"Why?" she wept, feeling a miserable wreck. One moment, it had seemed her life was about to take a turn for the better with Josh staying on, and now it had all fallen apart…again, "Why take my poor children, who never harmed anyone?"

Josh pitied her; after everything he'd seen, it was clear that the Exiles didn't treat prisoners well and dreaded to think what they might do to the children. But, on the other hand, he couldn't help but wonder. Why would they take the children at all? If it was them they were after, then why not try and ambush them out in the desert, where they were sitting ducks? Why kidnap the children and then disappear without even making any demands? Was this an act of retaliation or was it something else…?

"We've got to do something!" Elizabeth cried desperately, "Oh, my goodness, they do awful things to children! They turn them into slaves, they torture them, kill them…!" She broke down again, crying her heart out at the thought of the terrible ordeal her children must be experiencing at the hands of their captors. First her husband; and now her children would become the Exiles' next victims? Josh gently took her into his arms to comfort her.

"It's all right, Biff," he said encouragingly, "We'll get them back, I promise. And when we do," he muttered coldly to himself, "Those responsible are going to pay dearly for this!" His mind turned to Justin and Brutus' rabbits which, he remembered, they had left behind in the farm barn before departing for Thorn Valley.

"Come on, let's get your rabbits ready," he said, "If we hurry, we should be able to pick up those scoundrels' trail and intercept them before they reach the mountains…"

"You can't follow the Exiles out in the desert in the dark, you fool human!" snapped Brutus sharply, "You'll never find them! And even if you do catch up, if they see you, they'll slaughter the children on sight! Why do you think they took them? They want you…!"

Although not exactly meant as an accusation, Josh's heart sank, realising that Brutus was right; indeed, it was because of him that the Exiles had kidnapped Elizabeth's children in the first place. It had to be. Why else would the Exiles resort to this sick cat-and-mouse game? The memory of Castor's threat when they nearly had them cornered back in Thorn Valley resurfaced in his mind, making him wonder, why did these cutthroats want him so badly? Why was he of such interest to the Exiles? But it didn't matter right now. They had to get the children back! But how?

As if reading his mind, Justin spoke up, "We have to tell Nicodemus about this at once. He's the only one who can help us." Josh bit his lip; appealing to this fellow Nicodemus for help would inevitably mean revealing himself to the Rats. Although he had agreed to accompany his friends to Rosebush City, so they could present him to their king, now that the moment had arrived, he didn't know whether he was up for the challenge. What if the Rat king wasn't all that welcoming? He already had enough problems on his plate as it was to have the entire Rat community hunting him down. On the other hand, the children's lives far outweighed his own safety.

"Then, I guess, our next stop is Rosebush City," he finally said, "I just hope your friend Nicodemus is as accepting as you say he is." A broad smile crossed the young Captain's face, pleased to see that Josh had finally decided to return the trust the Rats had placed in him when they'd first met.

Half an hour later, they were riding hard across the desert, en route to Rosebush City. With only three chariots available – Justin, Brutus and Mr Ages' -, the group had to ride in pairs: Josh rode with Justin, and Elizabeth with Ages. Only Brutus, who was the biggest, rode alone, his expression calm and indifferent.

Josh had never pondered on what it might be like riding a chariot pulled by a horse-sized rabbit and wasn't particularly enjoying this awkward first-time experience. Although he used to do a bit of riding as a teenager, in direct contrast to a horse, that run straight and even, the oaf-sized rabbit would sprint with each step, its powerful hind legs kicking back like a deranged donkey, barely missing the edge of the chariot it was pulling behind it, causing it to shake and jolt to no end. Personally, he'd taken flying any time. But, given the circumstances, at least it beat the delay it would cause them travelling to Rosebush City on foot.

Standing on the rickety chariot beside Justin, who stood perfectly balanced, comfortably manning the reigns, Josh clung on for dear life as they rode along, thinking. Soon, the inhabitants of this crazy planet would know that a real flesh and blood human being – whose kind was the key taboo of their religion – had dropped into their midst.

In spite of his uncertainty as to how they would react to his arrival, which could mean the difference between life and death, with strong emphasis on the latter, Josh couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement sweep over him. He'd gotten his wish all right; he'd travelled beyond anywhere any human being had ever gone before. But, whether this adventure turned out to be his ultimate dream come true or his demise still remained to be seen…

Author's note: Sorry for the delay, but I have been working long shifts up at the Pentagon. Enjoy and please review!