Location: Thorn Valley
Sol: 66
The winter had finally arrived. Thorn Valley, just like the rest of Nimh-Beta, was frozen over, with temperatures reaching to way below zero. All vegetation around the Valley was dead and all the animals had gone into hibernation, or else migrated south to the equator. At night, blizzards with gale-force winds would blow non-stop, but during the day the weather was calm enough to venture outdoors.
It had been a week since the expedition to the Lee of the Stone for food, and the colonists of Thorn Valley had since adjusted very well to their new life. Safely sheltered within their sturdy Hab, which could stand up to any extreme weather the planet could throw at it, they now had more than enough food to last them through the winter.
The expeditionaries had brought back a total of 113 ears of corn, adding an additional 200 days worth of food to their supplies. Combined with the Hab's own supplies, they now had more than enough food to last them through the winter. Then came the question of processing and storing the corn.
Lacking adequate storage space inside the Hab, Josh had resorted to building something that resembled a large domed tent using canvas from the balloons and other leftover parts from the REMO's landing gear, all cobbled together with glue in a crude patchwork. Another resource they had in plentiful supply was plastic bags, mostly for lab samples, and duct-tape. As they had no cans or jars, these materials could now be used for their new food storing enterprise.
Once all the kernels had been removed from the corncobs, they were bagged and the bags taped shut, to keep airborne bacteria from penetrating. The bags of corn were then stored outside in their new shed. Between the airtight environment of the bags and the sub-zero temperatures, the corn would keep for ages in that giant freezer which was Nimh-Beta in winter. But not all of it.
Justin had reminded Josh that they would need to plant a new crop in the spring, which meant they had to make sure to keep some of the corn aside. From what Josh could learn from Elizabeth about growing corn, it couldn't be done from anything they stored outside, as the cold would soon render the corn infertile. In other words, they had to keep some of the corn inside, in plant pots.
The Hab was equipped with a small greenhouse, but that was meant for experimental purposes only. The crew of the Nimh-One could grow some vegetables and hydroponics for their own use, but it was nowhere big enough to sustain a small community indefinitely. What's more, it certainly wasn't built to house corn-plants that could grow as large as palm trees. The colonists would need to make major adjustments in order to store them.
The first problem was plant pots. The plant pots supplied for the mission were all the size of coffee cups and nowhere big enough to fit a giant corn plant. Josh had considered the possibility of extracting seeds from the corn and preserving them in liquid nitrogen until the spring instead, but quickly shrugged away from the idea. He was no botanist and only had a hazy idea of how seed preservation worked. So instead he went back to his usual tinkering and nerdy engineering.
Using the largest of the now empty packing cases and boxes that had contained the REMO's supplies, they drilled drain-holes in the bottom and filled them with soil mixed with fertilizer from the greenhouse's supplies. The cases were then stored side by side in the greenhouse, which would expose the plants to artificial light and water, supplied from hoses by an automated computer system. Now they had several plant-pots in which to plant their crops.
On Elizabeth's direction, the children planted several of kernels, which the adult Rats had carefully dried using infrared lamps. The Brisby children, having grown up on a farm, knew had to plant crops well, and Fievel was quick to learn. Once the seeds were planted, Josh activated the greenhouse's climate-control system, setting it to mimic the warm, sunny environment of South America. Within 100 days or so, they should have a dozen healthy corn plants. These would be fully grown and ready for replanting in a proper field as soon as spring arrived.
With the food problem finally solved, the colonists could now find time for some personal entertainment. The Nimh-Beta New Year was approaching and everyone was looking forward to celebrating. Well, almost everyone.
It was a typical winter day. Snow and ice covered every inch of the Valley and the lake was frozen solid, but the sky, although noticeably dimmer because of the planet's distance from the Centauri suns, was crystal clear. The children, bundled up in rabbit-skin winter garments their mothers had made for them, like Eskimos, were outside, having snowball fights in the snow.
"Hey, Martin, not fair!" shrieked Teresa incredulously as her brother chucked her a snowball from behind, laughed at her and ran off. Teresa gave chase, not realising the boys had prepared a little surprise for her. As she passed underneath a tree, a large torrent of snow came crashing down on top of her. Pocking her head out from the top of the drift, she saw Fievel, Timmy and Cynthia standing on the overhead branch, laughing their heads off. Teresa narrowed her eyes.
"I'll get you for this, you idiots!" she shouted, shaking her fist at them.
"Not before we get you twice, Snow-Mouse sis!" chanted Martin. Teresa gulped, noticing the armload of snowballs he had prepared. Before she knew what was happening, she was being bombarded by snowballs again, both from Martin and the rest of her siblings up in the tree. Pinned by the snow, Teresa suddenly found herself in quite a pickle as they all ganged up on her, pummelling her mercilessly with snowballs.
"I surrender! I surrender!" she shrieked, trying to shield herself, only to get another snowball right in the face. Meanwhile, her siblings showed no signs of stopping, having so much fun, "Help! Somebody help me!"
"All right children, that's enough," said a calm voice, interrupting their sport. Bernard Mousekewitz, who had been out gathering firewood, noticing the children were overdoing it with their game, including his son, had decided to intervene. Gently grabbing Teresa by the wrists, he pulled her out of the snow.
"Oh, Papa, we were just having fun," protested Fievel, even though deep down he did feel maybe they had gone a little too far. Sure enough, his Papa looked at them all.
"I know, but it's still not right not to play fair," said Bernard, "How would you like to have been in Teresa's place, Fievel?"
"I'll tell you what we would have done," said Martin, always full of glee, "We would pummel him with snowballs from dawn until dusk...! Eh, sorry, Mr Mousekewitz," he added sheepishly, noticing Bernard's disappointed look.
"All opponents in a game should have equal chances and equal strengths, otherwise it's just dirty play," Bernard continued. Although, unlike his wife, he was never a stern father, he always liked to set good examples to the children. "So..." He presented them with two large snowballs he had prepared behind his back, "You have till the count of three to take up arms!"
Realising what was coming, the children scattered, arming themselves with fresh snowballs. Pretty soon, they were back at play again, teaming up against Bernard who eagerly joined in the fun.
Not too far away, Emily, who was busy chopping wood for a new bread oven Josh was building, was looking at her husband, shaking her head. That Bernard would always be a child at heart, she thought. She stopped her work, suddenly feeling terribly depressed at the thought of Tanya, still trapped in Rosebush City and unable to be with her family. After they'd just had their freedom restored to them, fate seemed determined to keep her family torn apart. The poor girl didn't even know her parents were still alive... What would happen if that scoundrel Jenner found out about her? The thought made her shudder.
Josh had already explained to them that it would be very dangerous to attempt to get Tanya out themselves and could easily result in any one of them being captured and probably tortured for information. No, she decided, they had to get her daughter out of there, one way or another!
At dinner that evening, Emily wasted no time bringing up the subject of Tanya, this time making her resolve to get her daughter back absolutely clear.
"Captain Anderson, my husband and I are eternally grateful for everything you've done for us, but my patience is wearing thin. I remember you promised us that we would have our daughter back safely. Well, as a gentleman, I implore you to fulfil that promise now!"
"Mama, please don't be so rude," Bernard tried to calm his wife, "We've been over this before..."
"And just how exactly do you propose to get your daughter out from a city swarming with thousands of soldiers, guards and a false king, who won't hesitate to kill off any opposition?" demanded Brutus, "Your daughter could well be under surveillance, in case we try and contact her..."
"Then my husband and I will offer up my freedom in exchange for hers!" retorted Emily, standing up, "I'm not abandoning my little Tanya! Never!"
"You're both out of your minds!" snapped Brutus, also standing up, "Not only would Jenner have you killed as traitors, but he would use her as leverage to get to us! And, so help me, if you do anything that puts this colony in danger, I'll...!"
"That's enough, Brutus!" said Justin, ordering his burly orderly to calm his nerves before his short-temperedness made things worse. It just so happened, he sympathised with the Mousekewitzes more than anyone, because he too had someone he really cared about currently trapped in Jenner's clutches. The thought of Isabella hadn't left him since they'd confronted Sullivan back at the Lee of the Stone. The thought that Jenner wanted her as his Queen enraged him to no end. They had to do something. He turned to Josh.
"Josh, I know this is going to sound insane, but I think Mrs Mousekewitz is right. We have to do something about that girl. Isabella too, needs our help. It's our duty to Nicodemus to protect the true heir to the throne."
"There are many good Rats and Mice trapped under that maniac's control, dear boy," said Mr Ages, trying to sound sympathetic, although Josh could tell he thought this entire discussion was but a fool's folly, "Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do for them. We should be focusing on finding the Stone instead..."
"I think there is a way to get Tanya out," interrupted Josh, who, deciding he'd put off the inevitable long enough, had suddenly come up with an idea. Going in themselves was out of the question; so what if Tanya could escape by herself? What if both Tanya and Isabella could escape together? What if they had the means of escaping right there with them? It would be damn risky, but it was worth a shot.
Once the children had been tucked into bed, their parents preferring they not be part of this conversation, Josh asked his friends to follow him into the control room. He punched in a sequence into the computer, bringing up a schematic of the ship's pods on screen.
"This is going to sound crazy, but it's the only choice we've got," he said, "Tanya and Isabella will have to fly out of there using my space pod." The Rats all looked at him, wondering if he'd gone mad.
"But she's only a child!" gasped Elizabeth, "You can't expect her to fly your flying machine all by herself!"
"Biff's right," Justin put in, "She wouldn't know the first thing about flying. Remember, Isabella is still in the dark about Nicodemus' death. How would Tanya even persuade her to escape if she thinks we're the killers? They'd both be killed trying to get that thing off the ground! That is if Jenner hasn't destroyed it already..." But Josh merely smiled, zooming in onto an array of circuitry housed in the pod's nose-cone, which was the autopilot's remote-control override, an emergency system which allowed a backup pilot to fly the pod back to base by remote from Mission Control, in case the pilot was incapacitated.
"That's the beauty of it; they don't have to do anything other than climb onboard and throw a few switches to activate the remote-controlled sequence." He pointed to another screen viewing satellite imagery of the planet's surface. A blinking red dot on the edge of the screen, in the vicinity of Rosebush City, pinpointed the source of Alpha Scout's navigational beacon, indicating the pod was still there and in one piece, "Then I'll be able to fly the pod from here by remote, all the way to Thorn Valley! Piece of cake!" However, his friends remained sceptical.
"I don't know. This sounds a bit too dangerous, Josh," said Elizabeth, not liking the idea one bit. The memory of Martin almost getting killed still haunted her, "What if they're caught trying to escape? What if something else goes wrong with your flying machine?"
Josh needn't answer her. Everyone knew well if Tanya was caught trying to smuggle the princess, Jenner's future trophy bride, to freedom, she wouldn't just be looking at execution, but torture too; if the pod suffered any critical system failure during the flight, she'd crash and not only there wouldn't be a damn thing Tanya could do to save herself, but she'd be taking Isabella with her too. Josh couldn't take that kind of responsibility on his own; he needed his friends' unanimous support, if they were to do this.
Josh looked at the Mousekewitz parents, who still hadn't said a word, caught in a conflict of emotions. Half of them desperately wanted to see their daughter again, but the other half dreaded the thought of Tanya taking such a great risk, that could easily end in tragedy. Finally, Emily nodded. Bernard smiled at his wife; at last, she'd found it within her heart to trust Josh. The man returned the nod curtly.
"What about you, Justin?"
Justin sighed; as Captain of the Guards, Isabella's safety was his responsibility and he found himself terribly reluctant to approve such a reckless plan that would put her life in great danger. On the other hand, he knew they were running out of time; it wouldn't be much longer before Jenner forced her to marry him and then she'd be beyond their reach forever. Josh was going ahead with his plan to get the Mousekewitz girl out anyway. This might be their only chance to get Isabella out as well.
"All right then, let's do it."
"The first step is communication," said Josh, "Tomorrow night, when Tanya will be listening in on the radio, I'll relay to her detailed instructions. Everything she does will have to be meticulously planned. Until then, we'll have to go over the plan again and again, to ensure the minimum possible risks."
"You do realize we only have one chance at this," said Brutus gruffly, "And that's assuming nothing goes wrong..."
Back in Rosebush City, things were only going from bad to worse by the day. With winter now in full force, the Rats were forced to take refuge underground, sealing up the City against the cold. The surrounding countryside, now frozen over, was completely deserted, save for the Rat patrols guarding the borders.
Jenner's increasing displeasure at not being able to find the Stone still persisted, in the form of him taking it out on his subjects to no end. Sullivan, in particular, had really gotten himself into Jenner's bad books.
The news of his patrol's run-in with Josh's party at the Lee of the Stone had spread like wildfire, with Jenner twisting the truth around and announcing how several of his best soldiers had fallen victim to that 'savage, bloodthirsty Nimh human' and his gang of outlaw traitors, and promising that they would be severely punished when they were caught. As for Sullivan, he'd been furiously reprimanded, but rather than throw him to the cats for letting the human escape, Jenner had assigned him the task of finding out who was the mole who'd warned Anderson of his plans, under threat of torture and death if he failed again.
Security had been tightened more than ever, with no one allowed even to leave his home without explicit permission. The soldiers would do routine checks on every dwelling, and arrests, often without charge, had become a daily occurrence. The worst of all had been the news of the siege of Minsk by the Rat army.
Only a few days after Tanya had overheard Jenner's plot, his army had returned from her home city triumphant, bringing back dozens of Mice prisoners, to be tried for treason against the Empire. The Rats had retaken Minsk, killing anyone who attempted to resist and taken the rest prisoner, looted the city and then burned it to the ground.
Jenner had of course twisted the truth around once again, boasting of how his loyal soldiers, protectors of the Empire, had crushed those Mice rebels who had committed high treason against their Governor and collaborated with the Nimh human, in an attempt to wage war against the Rats to steal their provinces, as Jenner had put it. A glorious day for the Empire!
The Mice of Minsk had all been imprisoned and subjected to torture, in an attempt to get information on Josh's whereabouts, but without success. Gussie Mousenheimer had been condemned for high treason by Warren T, who had been promoted to Chief Prosecutor on the High Council by Jenner, and sentenced to death. Her battered and broken body had been left hanging by the noose in the City square for days, as a warning to other Mice who might think of aiding Josh and his followers.
Tanya had attempted a few times to sneak downstairs and visit the prisoners, including Bridget and Toni Toponi, now being held in the palace dungeons, but had always been shooed away by the guards. No one was permitted anywhere near the prisoners, except for the guards and Jenner himself, and Tanya knew, if her little secret ever came out, she'd join them faster than her head could spin.
She hadn't told Isabella anything yet about Nicodemus' secret room or the realization that Jenner had been her grandfather's killer all along, afraid that she might be watched. Indeed, she now feared greatly for her safety. She'd noticed Sullivan staring at her suspiciously every time she passed him in the hallways, almost as if he could sense she was hiding something. Did he know? Tanya couldn't see how he could, as she hadn't breathed a word to anyone, but that didn't ease her worrying in the slightest.
Isabella meanwhile wouldn't leave her alone and kept on pestering her to help her find the Stone. Every possible hiding place she'd had Tanya search for it had turned up nothing. And why would they, if the Stone really was hidden inside that lock-box she'd seen in Nicodemus' secret study? She wanted so much to tell Isabella, but knew better that to do anything so stupid. No, it was safer to leave it right where it was, until she could figure out what to do.
It was late at night. Tanya was lying in her cramped bed in the servants' quarters, feeling deadbeat after a long day of back-breaking work. All of the servants were being pushed to their limits and their wages had been cut in half, as part of Jenner's latest cutbacks on the royal household budget, in order to fill his treasury. Many of the female servants had also been drafted into a whole new line of work, satisfying the pleasures of the new King and his most loyal ministers as concubines, although Tanya had luckily been shielded from all this by the other servants. That was one of the few advantages of being a scurly maid who went unnoticed.
Normally, Tanya should be asleep, but not tonight. It had been twelve days and still no word from Josh. As her friend had instructed her to, she'd hid the makeshift radio he'd left her under her mattress where no one would find it and, every three days, at midnight, she'd listen in, waiting for him to contact her again. So far nothing.
What was taking Josh so long? He'd promised he'd come back for her, to rescue her like her brave, noble knight. She knew he hadn't been caught, otherwise the whole kingdom would know about it. She'd overheard about Sullivan's run-in with him, during which several Rat soldiers had been killed and angering Jenner further, but otherwise they'd been no sign of him. Where could he have disappeared to? At least it comforted her knowing that Fievel was safe with him and not stuck here with her.
As Tanya lay dozing off, suddenly she heard a crackling sound coming from the earphone. The radio, which had been silent for days now, had a transmission coming in! No voice could be heard, only a series of tapping sounds, which she realised was a signal to get her attention. Frantically glancing around, making sure everyone else was sound asleep, she grabbed the microphone.
"Josh?" she whispered, "Josh, is that you?"
"We're getting you out of there, Tanya," came Josh's voice, cutting straight to the chase, "Both you and Isabella. But you need to do exactly what I tell you. Now listen very carefully..."
Tanya listened as Josh relayed his escape plan to her. She and Isabella would have to use his flying machine, still held in the palace, to escape, which he would commandeer from afar. It was as simple as that. Tanya didn't know whether she should be excited or terrified at the idea. The latter seemed the most likely when she realised that sneaking onto the pod wasn't going to be easy.
The pod, she knew, was constantly under heavy guard, a personal trophy of King Jenner's, with the death penalty to anyone who dared touch it. The last time she'd tried outwitting the guards, she'd narrowly escaped punishment and that was only because of Josh letting her off the hook. The idea of what might happen if she were caught there again terrified her. But, on the other hand, she hated to lose heart in front of her friend. No, she would do this and she would not fail!
"When do I go then? Now?"
"Tomorrow night, at midnight. Once you've completed the procedure I described, we'll know you're onboard and I'll take over from there," said Josh, "Until then, your mission is to find a safe route to the pod. Can you do that?" Tanya smiled. She'd spent half her childhood discovering all the secret nooks and crannies around the palace to sneak into forbidden areas. She was pretty sure she could do that now.
"Please don't take any unnecessary risks, Tanya," Josh warned her, "You and Isabella will be sticking out your necks on this one, so don't push your luck. And at the first sign of trouble, you back off. We can always think of another plan. Promise me you won't do anything foolish."
"I promise, Josh."
"Okay, signing off. And good luck for tomorrow!" Suddenly, Tanya remembered something.
"Wait, Josh! About the Stone. I think I..." But Josh had already signed off.
The next day, Tanya went about her duties as usual, doing her best not to arouse suspicion. She'd passed outside the balcony that served as the helipad for Josh's pod and glider several times, but found it was never left unguarded, with both aircraft kept behind locked doors. She'd never be able to get passed the guards unnoticed, much less the locked doors, and she wasn't crazy enough to try. However, there was another way.
Climbing onto the storey above, she discovered a window overlooking the helipad, which, unlike downstairs, wasn't guarded. This might be her best bet, but she needed some rope to get down, which she didn't have. And being caught carrying a length of rope around the palace would be a dead give-away. But Tanya could be real crafty when she had to.
That day, she was assisting the laundresses, delivering fresh linen to the bedchambers. During every journey to and from the laundry room, she'd take a quick detour and stuff a bed sheet inside the suit of armour next to the window, enough to improvise a rope. By supper time, everything was set. Now, all she had to do was to let Isabella in on the escape plan and hope she agreed to it. If she still believed Josh to be guilty and Tanya told her she was planning an escape to join him to freedom, her head would be on the block before the night was out.
That evening, Tanya volunteered to bring the dinner tray to Isabella's chambers, as was her custom. Ever since her grandfather's death, she'd flatly refused to join Jenner to dinner in the great hall, preferring to eat alone. Jenner had been indignant, but, rather than starve her, he'd kept her confined to her room, until she decided to be more appreciative towards him. Tanya still hadn't figured out how she'd get her past the guards posted at her door and now that the moment of escape was drawing close, she was growing increasingly nervous.
She approached the door to Isabella's chambers, pushing a heavily laden dinner tray on a trolley. The guards standing on either side of the door grunted and let her in. Isabella was waiting for her.
"Where in the name of the Great Owl have you been?" demanded Isabella crossly, "I haven't seen you all day! Is something wrong...?"
"Isabella, we haven't got much time," Tanya interrupted her, gesturing at her to keep her voice down, in case the guards were listening, "I've got something to tell you and promise me you won't get mad." Isabella looked at her suspiciously.
"Tell me what?"
"Josh contacted me last night; he's got a plan to get us both out of here and away from Jenner." Isabella looked like she'd turned to stone.
"You've been in contact with Captain Anderson all along?!" she gasped incredulously, standing up. Tanya had never seen her mistress look so angry before and was beginning to doubt the wisdom of telling her, "You've been helping the traitor who murdered my grandfather? How dare you!"
"Isabella, please keep your voice down! I can explain..." But Isabella was beyond reasoning, realising it had been Tanya, her close friend and confidant, all along who had helped Josh evade capture.
"And to think I always trusted you as a friend! I should have you thrown into the dungeons...!"
"There's something else you should know," said Tanya, figuring it was finally the right moment to tell Isabella what she'd found out, "Josh wasn't the one who killed your grandfather; it was Jenner!" Isabella looked like she might have a heart attack.
"My own cousin is the killer?" she gasped, looking like she was about to be sick. She knew Jenner was callus and brutish, but she never imagined for one minute he'd actually sink so low and betray his own flesh and blood. The realization was horrific, beyond belief. She wanted Tanya to be wrong, to have been misled. "How did you know? Did Anderson tell you?"
"Actually, I overheard Jenner boasting about it to that creep Sullivan," she said, explaining how that night Isabella had sent her searching her grandfather's study, nearly getting herself caught in the process, she'd overheard their heated conversation about how they'd successfully framed Josh, to get him out of their way, but still being unable to locate the Stone. Isabella could take no more. She broke down sobbing.
"How could he do this? How could he?!" she wept over and over, feeling utterly disgusted. Her own cousin had murdered his own uncle! He'd lied to them, shifted the blame onto an innocent man, just to satisfy his own evil ambitions. Her grandfather's last words seemed to play back in her mind: "Those who judge others on hearsay are only helping to spread the lies of those who choose the bury the truth, to suit their own selfish ends." And she, the naive, foolish, pampered princess, completely overlooking the obvious, had actually believed Jenner when he named Captain Anderson as the killer! The realization made her feel so ashamed of herself.
"Why didn't you tell me all of this before?" she demanded, feeling incredulous that Tanya had kept her in the dark for so long, "I thought we didn't keep secrets from each other! What, did you think I couldn't handle the truth?!"
"I'm so sorry, Isabella," Tanya apologised to her friend. It had been a very hard decision, but it had been the only way to keep Isabella safe, "I wanted to tell you, I really did, but I was afraid Jenner would kill us if he found out. For the love of the Great Mouse of Minsk, I saw him murder that Rat Digit in cold blood! I'd never think you weak, never! I just didn't want to see you get hurt! Please forgive me!" Isabella finally nodded, accepting the apology.
"And there's something else you should know," continued Tanya. She had kept her friend in the dark long enough, so she might as well tell her the whole story, "I think I know where the Stone is hidden." She told Isabella about the secret room she'd discovered underneath Nicodemus' study, filled with all those human artefacts and that sealed box which she believed contained the Stone.
"That explains why Jenner hasn't been able to find it," she concluded, "Your grandfather probably feared something like this would happen and took precautions to keep the Stone from falling into the wrong hands." Isabella's initial shock soon gave way to fury.
"Jenner is not going to get away with this!" she swore, "I'll have his head for killing my grandfather, if it's the last thing I do!" She stood up again, "We're going before the Council at once and you're going to tell them everything you just told me..."
"No, we can't do this!" Tanya pleaded with her friend, knowing full well the repercussions if they tried, "Jenner will just cover it all up, maybe have us both killed or torture us for the Stone! Nicodemus would have wanted you to stay alive and free, to continue his legacy! Please, Isabella, come with me while you still can!"
"I need to get the Stone," said Isabella, her firm voice clearly expressing the strength of her resolve, "It's my grandfather's entire life's work and I can't allow it to fall into the hands of a murdering traitor. I'm not leaving without it!"
Tanya felt like kicking herself for telling Isabella about her discovery so soon. She could tell Isabella wasn't going to back off on this one and that was that. And she couldn't just abandon her and escape alone. Josh was counting on her. Reluctantly, she nodded.
"All right, but if we're going to get the Stone, we have to do it now," she told Isabella, "Josh said we have to be on his flying machine by the Great Owl's final call tonight." As if on cue, the voice of the palace crier echoed in the hallways.
"The twenty fifth call of the Great Owl and all's well!"
One hour to midnight. It was now or never. Helping Isabella into a warm cape which she figured she'd need for the flight, and donning one herself, Tanya turned towards the door, only to remember there were guards still posted on the other side with orders to forbid the Princess from leaving her chambers without permission from the King.
"Any idea how we're going to get past those oafs?"
But Isabella, smiling, walked over to a wooden panel in the wall. Putting her back into it, the panel creaked open, revealing a secret passage behind the wall. She winked at Tanya.
"You think, just because I'm a Princess, I wouldn't have secret ways of walking around the palace after hours? After all, I learned it from the best." Tanya felt herself blush, remembering the countless times she'd use the secret passages in the hollow walls to sneak around the palace after dark with Isabella when they'd first met as children. Isabella grabbed a flaming torch from its bracket. "Let's go!"
The passage led them out into a hallway, not too far from Nicodemus' study. Tiptoeing, to avoid being heard, they made their way over to the study door and Tanya chanced a peek inside. The coast was clear. Gesturing to Isabella, they entered, closing the door behind them. Unfortunately, neither of them had noticed the shadow of a familiar chubby Rat on a nearby wall, who'd been following them unnoticed...
Inside the study, Tanya led Isabella to the wall where the false tapestry was. Giving the rope a tug, the tapestry slid aside, revealing the entrance to the secret room under the floor. Tanya and Isabella descended the narrow steps.
The sight that met Isabella's eyes as her torch illuminated the room nearly took her breath away. Her grandfather's many years of research and labour were all here in the form of all those old documents and scrolls and those ancient human trinkets he'd secretly collected over the years, and from which he'd pieced together the truth of their beginnings, with the assistance of Jonathan Brisby and Mr Ages.
She glanced at some of the newer human contraptions, obviously Anderson's, which sat on tables around the room, some still running. Now she realised how wise her grandfather had been when he chose to trust that human explicitly. By enlisting Josh's help, not through coercion or intimidation like Jenner wanted, but through mutual trust and confidence, he'd unlocked the entire secret of their ancestors.
Tanya pointed at the lock-box still sitting undisturbed on the desk. Isabella tried to pry it open, but it was locked. They searched the study for a key, but there wasn't one to be found. This had to be the Stone, thought Isabella, she was sure of it. And if they couldn't get the box open, then there was only one thing left to do.
"Help me lift it!" she ordered Tanya and they struggled to lift the heavy box off the desk, "We can carry it between us."
Tanya wanted to point out it would be very difficult to explain to someone if they were caught walking about with a suspicious lock-box, but knew Isabella would hear none of it. Carrying it from either end by its handles, they were about to make their way back upstairs when their luck finally run out.
Standing at the foot of the stairs waiting for them was none other than Jenner, smiling sinisterly at them, his arms crossed in what looked like smug triumph. Behind him stood a most uneasy-looking Sullivan, who'd been following the girls and reported their whereabouts to his master the moment he realised they'd found the Stone. The pair were flanked by several armed guards, which he'd summoned. They were trapped. Tanya gasped.
"Well, well, well, out for a little night stroll are we, dear cousin?" asked Jenner casually, his chilling green eyes fixing Isabella with a hungry gaze. He looked like a snake ready to devour a rather juicy mouse. "A little inappropriate to be out having fun with your scurly maid when you're supposed to be in mourning for your dear grandfather, wouldn't you say?" Isabella glared at Jenner.
"How dare you even speak of my grandfather, you bastard!" she yelled, "You killed him so that you could steal both the throne and the Stone! Traitor!" Although mildly surprised that Isabella had found out, Jenner wasn't in the least intimidated. In fact he seemed extremely pleased, his eyes glued to the lock-box Isabella and Tanya were carrying.
"And what exactly is it you know about the Stone, when it's supposed to be a heavily guarded secret and not something for foolish young princesses to be prying into?" His sickeningly condensing tone aggravated Isabella to no end.
"Please, Your Majesty, I can explain," Tanya tried pleading with Jenner, "We were just curious and wanted to look around..."
"Silence, you traitorous little wretch!" growled Jenner with such rage, it sent Tanya staggering back against the wall, paralysed with fear, "Thought you could outwit me, you stupid little mouse brat? I have eyes and ears everywhere - even in the most useless of Rats." He turned to look at Sullivan, who refused to even look at Tanya. It had been he, who, fearing for his life, had finally cracked and revealed to Jenner that he'd observed the Mousekewitz girl acting suspiciously. Jenner of course had quickly connected the dots and ordered Sullivan to follow her but without revealing himself, until he found out what she was up to. And now, the damage was done.
Jenner snapped his fingers. One of the guards seized Tanya, tying her hands behind her back with cord. Poor Tanya struggled, but the guard was far too strong for her. Jenner smirked cruelly at her efforts.
"Unhand her at once!" shouted Isabella, stepping forward. As princess and heir to the throne, she still had authority here, or so she thought. "I order you to release her immediately and seize that traitor!" She pointed at Jenner, "He's guilty of murdering the King!" The guards didn't move.
"That's a direct command from the Princess to whom you've sworn your loyalty!" she shouted incredulously, stomping her foot, "I'm ordering you to arrest Jenner immediately!" The guards continued to give her a cold shoulder. Jenner laughed.
"I'm afraid they won't obey you any longer, dear cousin," he said tauntingly, "You see, there's a new order now - my order!" As if to prove his point, he gestured at a second guard, who nodded and seized Isabella too.
"Get your hands off me at once, you swine!" yelled Isabella. Never before had she seen such insubordination in the royal guards, the very same ones whom Nicodemus had trusted with his life and that of his family. "I'll have your heads for this, you traitors! I said, let go...!"
Jenner paid her no attention and instead turned to the lock-box lying on the floor. Pulling out his sword, he struck the lid hard, breaking it clean in half. His gleeful expression turned to one of utmost fury as he looked inside the box, finding...
"Nothing!" he shouted, kicking the ruined box away in frustration. He rounded on Tanya and Isabella, demanding, "Where is it?! What have you done with it?" In spite of her own puzzlement, Isabella couldn't help but smirk back at her traitorous cousin.
"It looks like Grandfather is still determined not to make it that easy for you," she smirked in his face, "You'll never find the Stone, Jenner, never! Only those worthy of having it will!"
The jibe at having been bested by his Uncle yet again, even in death, really set off Jenner's temper. Furious, he raised his hand to strike Isabella, but then his eyes fell on Tanya. His face curled into a sinister smile. The Mousekewitz girl, a close ally of Anderson, had to know something about where the Stone was. And if these two fools thought they could play with him, then they would play by his rules!
"Take this lying little traitor down to the dungeons and lock her up!" he ordered Sullivan, "I'll be down shortly to hear what she has to tell us once you've finished torturing her!" Tanya felt like she was about to faint. The thought of being subjected to branding-irons, thumb-screws and iron maidens utterly terrified her! There was no way she could hold her silence for long. She'd be forced to give up everything she knew.
"No, please, no...!" she cried, but the guard completely ignored her and forcibly dragged her out, followed by Sullivan.
"And as for you, my dear," continued Jenner, turning back to Isabella, "I believe the time has finally come for you to take up your duties as the King's new bride. There's no need to look so glum, Isabella," he added, caressing her under the chin with the tip of his claw, "You'll still be honouring my dearly departed Uncle's memory - by bearing the next future heirs to our royal bloodline!" Repulsed, Isabella spat him in the eye.
"I would rather die!" she snarled, struggling to pull her arms free of the grip the guard had on her and strike Jenner, "Justin is ten times the Rat you are, you cowardly murderer!" At the mention of Justin's name, his second sworn nemesis after Josh, Jenner's anger resurfaced. Infuriated, he struck Isabella hard across the face.
"I always knew there was something between you and that traitor!" he snarled, a mixture of jealousy and outrage written on his face, "The Princess, a whore to a lowly Captain of the Guards? How dare you!" It seemed he would have to do this the hard way. He narrowed his eyes dangerously at Isabella.
"If you won't have me as your husband, then you henceforth forfeit all your privileges and status as a member of the royal family!' he said coldly, fixing Isabella with his monstrous gaze, "But it won't keep you from procuring me with an heir," he added, with a sinister smile, "If not willingly, then submissively, you'll be satisfying your King's manly pleasures...as a lowly concubine!" Isabella felt her skin crawl, realising what that meant.
"Princess Isabella is in poor mental health and therefore unfit to continue her royal duties," Jenner announced to the guard, "For her own safety, I want her relocated to my chambers immediately and locked up. No one is to go near her except myself, not even to bring her food. Until I say otherwise, she's to be treated as insane. Is that understood?" The guard nodded. "Good. Now take her away!"
"Yes, Sire!"
Poor Isabella could do absolutely nothing as the guard bound and gagged her, forcefully dragging her out. Her entire life had just been torn apart for good and a grim future lay ahead of her.
"What about all this stuff, Sire?" asked another guard, gesturing at all the scrolls and human trinkets around the room. Jenner looked in disgust at his late Uncle's life's work. All this research was based solely on Nicodemus' crackpot belief that humans might not be what their history claimed they were. He didn't need this kind of dangerous information lying around.
"Burn it all!" he ordered, "Destroy everything here! It's all pure heresy and an insult to our noble race!"
By dawn, the last of Nicodemus' work had gone up in flames. All that remained were the two pieces of the Stone, currently hidden away inside Josh's pod...
Upstairs, Tanya was being dragged along by that bully of a guard, on her way to the dungeons and from there to the torture chamber. Behind them, a reluctant Sullivan followed, to supervise the interrogation. He kept looking sadly at Tanya. It was all over for that girl; she was going to die a slow, agonising death, regardless of whether she talked or not.
The memory of Anderson and his party sparing his life, when they'd had every right to kill him for his role in Nicodemus' death, flashed back in his mind. He'd let Jenner drag him into his traitorous plot, which still weighed heavily on his conscience, and now he'd been ordered to torture and kill this innocent girl for no reason other than knowing too much. He'd already betrayed his King; there was no way he could stomach having a child's blood on his hands! But what could he possibly do without invoking Jenner's wrath? Cowardice and moral fibre seemed to clash all of a sudden.
"Ow!" yelled the guard, pinning Tanya to the wall by the throat and reaching down to lick his hand, where she'd bit him, trying to break free of his grip. He glared at the young mouse. "Feisty, are we? I'll teach you a lesson!" He raised his large wooden club, preparing to strike Tanya, who shut her eyes in terror. But the pain of the club never came.
Suddenly, Tanya felt the Rat's grip on her throat slacken; the guard, eyes wide and frozen in shock, toppled over and fell to the floor, dead as a coffin nail. As his body rolled over, she saw a bloodied dagger protruding from his spine, where his attacker had stabbed him. Sullivan!
Sullivan stood petrified, horrified by what he had just done. The sleeve from where he'd held the dagger was stained in blood. In a moment of despair, or perhaps the urge to relieve his guilt of his role in Nicodemus' death, he'd finally done the right thing and came to Tanya's aid. But not for long. Swiftly, he pulled the dagger from the dead guard's body and cut Tanya free.
"Go!" he hissed at her, "Get to that flying machine and get out of here! Hurry, before anyone sees you!"
"What...what about Isabella?" splattered Tanya, still in shock, both from what had nearly happened to her and for what Sullivan had just done, albeit to save her life. She couldn't even find the proper words to thank him.
"There's no more time!" said Sullivan, "I can only buy you a moment, before I have to sound the alarm! Now go, before I change my mind!"
With no chance of helping Isabella now, Tanya mouthed a thank you to Sullivan, turned and ran for her life. The helipad was two storeys up from where she was and in another minute, the whole palace would be crawling with guards. Sure enough, just as she reached the stairs, a voice rang out.
"Escaping prisoner! Find her!"
Feeling cold with dread, Tanya scampered upstairs to the corridor where the window overlooking the helipad was. She knew she was already way past her deadline, but she had to do this. Josh's flying machine was her only chance.
Hurrying over to the suit of armour, she was relieved to find the makeshift rope of bed sheets she'd made was luckily still there, along with Josh's radio. Working as fast as she could, she tied the rope to a nearby pillar and dropped it out the open window. Just as the sounds of heavy footsteps, which were the Rats coming up the stairs, were heard, Tanya lowering herself out the window, making her way down to the helipad.
It wasn't easy. Holding onto a linen rope a good fifty feet off the ground, the icy night wind kept blowing against her and she had lost her cape in the confusion. The freezing winter air was quickly turning her fingers numb. Struggling tooth and nail to hold on, knowing full well that if she fell from so high up it would all be over, she made her way down along the outer wall to the helipad.
Her feet had just touched down on firm ground again when the soldiers appeared at the window above. Seeing Tanya escaping right from under their noses made them furious.
"Hold it right there, in the name of the King!" someone shouted. But Tanya didn't wait to hear the rest of it. Scampering to her feet, she made a beeline for the pod. Feverishly running her hands along the side of the fuselage, she found a small access panel with a blinking red button that Josh had described and pressed it. The hatch opened up on its hydraulic mechanism. Behind her, the sound of the dead-bolt on the balcony door being drawn was heard. Any second now, the soldiers would be upon her. She had to hurry.
Scampering up into the dim cockpit and sealing the hatch, Tanya strapped herself into the pilot's seat. Heart pounding with anxiety and fear, she looked at the unfamiliar pilot's console in front of her. An array of flight controls, switches, indicators and event lights, all marked in minute writing, and of which Tanya knew absolutely nothing about, were spread out across the console. She struggled to think.
All right, what did Josh say? Find the master switch... Yes, that's it! But where is it?
Running her fingers gingerly across a bank of switches on the left, she found a big red button marked master arm. She pressed it. The cockpit lights came on and the pilot's console powered up with a cheerful humming sound, running in standby mode on reserve power. Tanya had no idea whether she'd done it correctly or not, but at least the machine was acting as Josh had said it should.
At that moment, the balcony doors burst open and the Rats stormed the helipad. The sounds of their fists pounding on the pod's fuselage trying to get to her almost made poor Tanya faint with fear. By the sheerest luck, none of them seemed to know how to operate the hatch, but Tanya knew she only had minutes, if not seconds, until they figured out how to get it open and then she'd be mouseburger. And meanwhile, she was trapped inside this grounded flying machine.
All right, now turn the flight mode switch. Oh, please, where is it...?
Shaking all over, she traced another switch on the base of the console bearing two tell-tale markings: pilot mode and remote override. The switch was currently set to pilot mode, from when Josh had reset the system after leaving the Nimh-One, to keep Commander Fitzgibbons from taking control of his pod and forcibly bringing him back to base. Now, they would be using that very same system to get Tanya to safety. Praying it would work, she turned the switch back to remote override mode.
Meanwhile, back in Thorn Valley, the colonists were all crowded inside the flight deck of the derelict Nimh-One.For the past twenty-four hours, Josh and the others had been working non-stop, restoring the ship's pod flight control console, from which he could commandeer the Scout from afar - the same place that had incidentally, centuries ago, been his former station during the Nimh-One's last mission.
After dusting and cleaning the ancient console of millennia worth of grime encrustations, Josh had taken it apart, repairing damaged parts and replacing corroded components with newer ones from the REMO's cargo, restoring the console to near mint condition.
With Josh ready at his post, the colonists had all been waiting anxiously for Tanya's signal. According to the plan, she and Isabella were supposed to be onboard the pod and ready to go by midnight. Midnight had come and gone half an hour ago and still nothing. According to Josh's instruments, the pod remained stationary on its helipad and off-line.
"Something's gone wrong," said Justin, pacing nervously up and down, "They must have been caught and arrested. I knew this escape plan of yours was insane!" Nearby, the Mousekewitzes sat huddled together, not saying a word, worried sick for their daughter. Perhaps their insistence that they try and get her out of there had cost her her life? The thought was too horrible to even think about.
"Wait! I've got something! She's there!" said Josh, suddenly noticing the readouts on his, until a second ago, idle console come alive with incoming data streams from Alpha Scout's systems. They had established an uplink with the pod and the only way that could have happened was if someone had reset the pilot mode switch. Tanya had made it onboard! In an instant, everyone was on their toes, trying to listen in.
"Tanya? Tanya, are you there?" called Josh into his headset. No answer. Of course, remembered Josh, feeling like slapping his forehead. The pod's radio's microphone's switched off and I forgot to tell her about it! "Tanya, if you can hear me, press the small button on the right control stick. It's that black thing shaped like a perched bird on the edge of the armrest. Press it down and hold it so you can talk."
For a few seconds nothing happened and Josh was beginning to think that maybe she couldn't hear him or perhaps she'd misinterpreted his instructions. But then, her panicky voice was heard across the line.
"Josh? Josh, I'm here!"
"I hear you, Tanya," said Josh, gesturing at his friends to stop their loud clapping and cheering so that he could hear, "You had us a little worried here... Are you all right? Is Isabella with you?"
"No, they caught us and took her away. I barely managed to escape," came Tanya's frightened voice, "Please get me out of here, Josh! They're after me!" Josh could have guessed as much; he could hear the soldiers' angry shouting and pounding through the radio, which meant Tanya was being swarmed by a large, murderous mob. There was no time to lose.
"Hold tight, Tanya!"
His hands flew over his controls, punching in the ignition sequence, moving faster than he'd ever done before, cutting as many corners as he could. His readouts showed the pod's systems were all hot and running. Data looked good. He hit the execute key. Come on, baby...
Tanya watched as the indicator lights on the control panel beeped and changed colour, as the systems, now under remote control, came back online. The pod seemed to take on a mind of its own as it rose from its slumber, ready to take flight once again. Her heart soared as she felt the familiar booming noises of the engines firing up beneath her. She was getting out of here!
Outside on the helipad, the Rats were caught completely unawares as the Nimh human's flying machine suddenly and unexpectedly came to life. The exhaust turbulence of the firing jets sent many of them flying backwards into each other like discarded rag-dolls. A few unlucky ones who were standing too close to the edge, found themselves blown over the side of the balcony, to a nasty death on the rocks far below.
The pod hovered above the helipad, as the Rats looked on, powerless to stop it. In one last desperate effort, one of the soldiers gave a massive leap, latching himself onto the side of the fuselage, as if intending to try and pull it back down. That was a big mistake. As Josh gunned the engines, gathering speed, the Rat was swept off, joining the rest of his unlucky comrades to their deaths.
"Well, don't just stand there, you fools!" yelled Jenner, who'd heard the commotion and came running, only to see his prisoner escaping with his prized trophy, "Shoot her down!"
The guards drew their bows and arrows, firing a barrage of arrows at the pod, but, of course, they had absolutely no effect in penetrating the pod's titanium, micrometeorite-resistant fuselage. The pod rose gracefully, aligning itself on a steady northern course for Thorn Valley. In frustration, Jenner grabbed a spear from one of the soldiers and, roaring like a mad Rat, flung it in the direction of the pod.
The spear flew through the air, striking the pod in the back, like a harpoon striking a whale. Normally, it should just bounce off without any effect like the arrows had done, but this time, Jenner had finally scored one lucky shot.
The iron tip of the spear found its mark in a small service panel on the roof of the service module, which housed the pod's primary communications array. That panel, unlike the rest of the sturdy fuselage, was shielded by only a thin metal cover which wasn't designed to withstand external attack by large, sharp objects, like spear-heads.
The spear ploughed straight through the panel like a knife through cardboard, wedging itself into the array's central processing unit housed underneath. A shower of sparks shot out of the panel as the iron of the spear shorted out the entire system. Inside the cockpit, Tanya yelped as sparks flew from the communications panel, as the surge hit it. Then the entire comms display went dark.
In Thorn Valley, Josh had quickly taken control and successfully gotten the pod off the ground. They had done it! Against all impossible odds, Tanya had been successfully rescued, albeit with a close shave, but otherwise she'd escaped unharmed, and would soon be reunited with her family, just like he'd promised her parents. He gave the Mousekewitzes the thumbs-up, grinning from ear to ear.
Fievel was cheering excitedly, while his parents looked like they were about to cry with joy. At last, they were going to see their daughter again! What a wonderful surprise it would be for her, thought Fievel, when he told her their parents were still alive! But fate wasn't meant to stay in their favour all the way.
"We've got a problem here!"
Josh had just finished setting the pod's course for Thorn Valley, when, all of a sudden, his console went haywire. All the data streams were scrambled, their readouts incomprehensible, followed by a rapidly growing loss of control. Something was wrong.
"Damn it, we're losing the uplink!" His hands flew over the keyboard, desperately trying to figure out what was causing this malfunction but it was too late. Within seconds, his instrument displays had all gone blank, the computer flashing the tell-tale message:
WARNING!
LOSS OF SIGNAL
"We've lost her!" cried Josh. He tried the radio, "Tanya, are you still there? Tanya, answer me!" The radio was dead too.
Glancing at the radar screen, he was relieved to see that they were still tracking the pod's navigational beacon, which was flying level and on course. But that was of little consolation as they'd lost all communication and control. Whatever had happened, it must have knocked out the pod's communication system, Josh figured. The second worst-case scenario they had feared had just been realised.
He turned to look at his friends who were staring at him with horrified expressions, as the reality of the situation slowly sunk in. Tanya was trapped up there, all alone, without a pilot and with no way to get her down. At this rate, the pod would probably keep on flying in a straight line until it ran out of fuel or ended up in a million pieces on the side of some mountain. Either way, she was doomed. He'd led her straight into a death trap!
Bernard Mousekewitz barely managed to catch his wife as she dropped in a dead faint.
Author's note: My apologies for the long delay, but this chapter was extremely difficult to write! At first I was going to see the rescue through to the end, but ultimately decided to leave something for the next chapter because it was getting too long. Enjoy and please review!