NIMH Planet of the Rats

by Sharks Potter

In the near future, the starship NIMH-1 is sent to explore the star system of Alpha Centauri. When Captain Josh Anderson is sent to inspect a new planet, his pod crash-lands on an inhospitable world, where giant, intelligent rats rule. Stranded and hunted down by the Rats, he is taken in by the Brisby family. Maybe unravelling the secret of this strange world is his only hope left?

42. The Fall of Rosebush City

Location: The Royal Palace, Rosebush City

Sol: 261

Jenner sat on the throne once occupied by Nicodemus, smiling in satisfaction at the message he had just received. The fugitives' lair had finally been located on the far side of the Dark Mountains! Thorn Valley, he thought with a smirk. He might have guessed that insufferable human would pick that of all places as a safe haven for himself and his gang of traitors, right under their noses! It seemed Captain Baffor's hunch had been correct after all.

Reading the message further, he realized the patrol was also bringing in a prisoner they had been able to nab from the enemy's lair, although, much to Jenner's dismay, it wasn't Anderson. No matter, though. By knowing where the fugitives were holed up and now with a prisoner to use as leverage, Jenner had a whole new game to play. He signalled to the guards to bring in the prisoner.

The remainder of Baffor's patrol entered, bringing in none other than Justin, his hands and feet shackled. No sign of Baffor, who was reported as having been killed during a bloody altercation with the fugitives. So much the better, thought Jenner. He didn't fancy the idea of having to publicly give credit to a second-rate Captain for finding him the Empire's most wanted fugitives. He'd rather keep all that credit to himself.

He stared hatefully down at Justin, his lifelong rival, whose face showed equal hatred. Although he would have preferred the human Anderson, he would have to settle for Justin. And he would so enjoy making this Rat who dared covet a member of the royal family, and his future Queen for that matter, suffer! He ordered all the guards out of the room.

"So, we meet again, Justin," he said, circling Justin, much like a snake sizing out a rather juicy mouse it intended to devour. "You thought your precious human friend could hide you forever? Well, you should know my enemies can never escape me!" Justin however didn't lose his cool, glaring defiantly back at Jenner.

"And you should know, traitors who murder their own king and frame others for their crimes, like yourself, are nothing but cowardly losers who always get their comeuppance!"

Jenner didn't take kind to Justin's cheek. Eyes flashing with anger, he punched Justin hard in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.

"No low-life, human-loving traitor ever talks to the great King Jenner with such disrespect!" he growled, "You and your human sidekick have stolen something from me and I want it back! Now, where is the Stone?"

"All the pieces have been found and are now out of your reach forever," said Justin smugly, "And if you're wondering what happened to your friend Warren T, he's dead. You lose, Jenner!"

Jenner responded by punching him again, this time in the face, blooding him up, "I never lose, not as long as I still live and breathe!" he snarled, "My dearly departed Uncle thought he could keep me in the shadows forever, but today, I sit on his throne! And soon, the Stone and all its secrets will be mine too!"

"If you think you can trade my life for the Stone, Josh will never let you have it!" retorted Justin, spitting blood, "So you might as well kill me now."

To his surprise, that remark didn't seem to aggravate Jenner in the slightest; in fact, it seemed to satisfy him. He leaned close to Justin's face, so they were almost nose to nose.

"Who says I intend to trade you for the Stone? I already know your human friend Anderson's weakness; he cares too much for his so-called friends to simply abandon you. He will be coming here to save you, just like he did the Brisby brats from the Exiles. And when he does, I will be waiting for him!" Justin snorted.

"If you recall, the Exiles tried just that, only to have the tables turned on them and ending up being wiped out!" he smirked, "You mess with Josh and it will only backfire on you, Jenner! Just you wait!"

"Not this time," said Jenner slyly, "I've learnt from Castor and Warren T's mistakes. You are going to be the one who will kill him for me!"

"Go feed yourself to the cats!" spat Justin. If Jenner thought he could coax him into betraying Josh, he had another thing coming. After all, he was still a soldier Rat, loyal to Nicodemus. If it meant some horrible death by torture to keep the Stone from falling into the wrong hands, then so be it. "I will never give in to your sick demands! Go ahead and do your worst!"

"As you wish, my friend," said Jenner with a sinister smile, which Justin didn't like one bit. He signalled to the guards, "Bring our guest along! I have prepared a little show for his personal entertainment."

The guards dragged Justin down to the dungeons, a place where he too had had the occasional sad duty of locking up criminals, sometimes humble beggars or other poverty-stricken citizens accused of petty crimes, like shoplifting or pick-pocketing. Alas, the law made no exception to stealing from the rich, even under Nicodemus' reign. And now, under Jenner, it was a thousand times worse.

Entering the cells, Justin saw the place was terribly overcrowded with Rats and Mice alike, from all social backgrounds, all huddled together in cramped, squalid conditions. All of them looked severely malnourished and abused, indicating cruel treatment by their jailors. Among them, Justin recognised many of the Mice of Minsk, which, Tanya had told them, had been rounded up after the Rats had razed the city in retaliation for them overthrowing Warren T. The sight of their dirty, miserable faces filled Justin with a strong feeling of guilt, realizing he and his friends were in part to blame for their fate.

Jenner stopped outside a cell separate from the others, which, Justin recalled, was used for solitary confinement for some of the most dangerous or important prisoners – and, in some cases, to be interrogated or tortured.

They entered the cell. The guards shackled him to the wall, facing a torture rack on which lay what looked like a pile of dirty rags. It was only then that Justin realised those rags were in fact another, familiar Rat – a female, whose once beautiful silk dress and chocolate-brown fur were now caked in dirt, grime and even blood. Isabella!

By the mercies of the Great Owl!, thought Justin, feeling sickened to the core at the sight of the once beautiful princess, whom he had served and her grandfather loyally all his life, in such a state. At first glance, she didn't even seem to be alive.

"Your Highness!"

To his utmost relief, Isabella's eyes, both bloodshot and swollen from, what appeared to have been, repeated blows and slaps, opened slightly and she turned to look at him, but didn't seem to recognise him. Constant physical and mental trauma caused by months of savage abuse and brutalization at the hands of Jenner had rendered her in a near-catatonic state. The sound of Justin's voice, once something she delighted in hearing, was now little more than an involuntary reaction to an auditory stimulus, but otherwise meant nothing to her. Justin felt his anger boil up inside him.

"You heartless scum!" he roared at Jenner, struggling to free himself from his chains and kill that bastard who had beaten and raped the princess he was tasked to serve and protect, and for whom, incidentally, he also harboured deep feelings for, but, bound by his soldier's honour, had never been able to express them openly. "She's your own cousin!"

Jenner laughed in sickening satisfaction at Justin's anger. No matter how tough someone was, if he knew what their true weakness was, he, Jenner could always break them. And it would be his pleasure to do just that to Justin and worse.

"She's nothing but a common slut, who dishonoured our family by refusing to marry into royal blood and by fraternising with her own Captain of the Guards! As King, it was my duty to see her punished and to make her fulfil her own royal duty... as the breeding vessel of my future heir!" Looking more closely at Isabella, Justin realised she was indeed pregnant, no doubt as a result of Jenner repeatedly raping her. Justin was utterly disgusted.

"You are a monster and a hypocrite!" he cried furiously, "You brutalized an innocent woman, your own flesh and blood, for your own sick satisfaction! Isabella was fully dedicated to her duties as a princess and an honourable granddaughter to Nicodemus, who gave her his blessing to choose any suitor she deemed worthy before his death!" he said, remembering Nicodemus' last will and testament. Jenner looked at him nastily.

"Well, in that case, you brought this on her!" he sneered unrepentantly, clearly enjoying the pain he was causing Justin. "Oh, yes," he added maliciously, "She confessed that she loved you and would never have me, and yet you abandoned her in order to save the Mousekewitz servant girl! Ha, some suitor you are! No matter, I put her in her proper place by stripping her off her royal title, the ungrateful little whore! Nothing less than what the little wretch deserved!" He spat on her floor in disgust.

Those words struck a devastating blow to poor Justin, much more than even the worst kinds of torture implements would, as he felt himself being overwhelmed by terrible guilt. Although obviously he had done nothing wrong, the fact that Isabella fancied him was what had brought Jenner's jealous wrath upon her in the first place. If it weren't for him, she wouldn't be lying there, violated and mentally broken. As if reading his mind, Jenner stared at him intently.

"That's right, Justin; you hurt her by winning her heart and now she has to suffer because of you. Not that I expect you'd want her anymore, given that she's reduced to a bag of damaged goods..." That was too much for Justin, his usually unbreakable fighting spirit completely crushed like an eggshell.

"Please, just let her go!" he begged Jenner – something he would never otherwise do, even if he were to be skinned alive –, unable to take this anymore. "Kill me, torture me, do whatever you want with me, but don't hurt her anymore, I beg you!"

"That will be entirely up to you," said Jenner with a sly smile, satisfied that he had finally broken Justin enough to force him into doing his bidding.

"Sooner or later, your friends will be coming here to save you," he said, "I expect that human Anderson will come up with more of his foul trickery to get past the guards and get you out. Only, he won't be rescuing a loyal comrade, but rather his own assassin!" He looked at Justin intently, his evil green eyes penetrating into the depths of Justin's very soul like a red-hot dagger.

"When that accursed human shows up here, it will be your job to kill him, take the Stone from him and bring it to me!" he said, "Should you fail to carry out either task, or attempt to warn him, you shall never see the beautiful ex-princess Isabella alive again! However, if you comply, I shall release her – only her – once she has delivered my heir. Choose Justin: escape and leave her behind again to suffer in your place like a coward, or do the noble thing and sacrifice everything you have for your beloved, who will get to live, but will never see you, or her child, again as you will be rotting in my dungeons!"

Without waiting for Justin to make up his mind, Jenner signalled to the guards, who came marching in, removed Isabella, who didn't struggle in the slightest, from the rack and dragged her outside. For an instant, Justin thought he saw a hint of familiarity appear in her vacant eyes, almost as if she could recognise him, but then it was gone. Where were they taking her? Was Jenner going to rape or beat her again, and force him to watch?

Jenner followed the guards out, but not before turning to look once more at Justin, "To ensure that you won't try and double-cross me, she is being moved to alternate accommodations that only I know about until further notice. If anything happens to me, or if your human friend so much as touches me, she will never be found and left to die. Remember that, Justin!" Without another word, with a sweep of his cloak, he was out the dungeon door, slamming it behind him. The guards locked it securely, leaving poor Justin to his misery.

For hours, Justin sat reflecting on the situation he had found himself in. Jenner was right; not only had he abandoned Isabella, an outright dereliction of duty, but he had also let her suffer at the hands of Jenner. The coward! It was all his fault and, after seeing Isabella in such a terrible state, he was determined to put it right. His spirit crushed by guilt and Jenner's poisoning words clouding his judgement, Justin could see only one resolve. There was no other way; he had to deliver Josh and the Stone to Jenner. After all, strictly speaking, he owed nothing to Josh Anderson or the others. Of course, he would have to live with the shame of betraying his friend for the rest of his life, but he didn't care. Right now, only his duty mattered, even more than his own life.

Out on the lava plains, Josh led a rescue party consisting of Captain Baffor, Brutus, Bernard and surprisingly Tanya, who had also volunteered to assist in the rescue, using her knowledge of the palace's secret tunnels and passages she and Isabella used to explore together, whilst Baffor would use his own intel to get them inside undetected.

The Mousekewitz parents had been apprehensive about allowing their daughter to take part in such a dangerous and, as far as Emily was concerned, foolhardy mission, but Tanya, still feeling guilty about leaving Isabella behind in her escape, would not be swayed. Finally, Josh, realizing her knowledge of the palace's secret areas could be useful, had relented, promising Emily he would protect her and her father with his life.

Despite their best-laid plans and the advantage of having Baffor and Tanya to guide them, Josh knew there was always the risk of something going wrong. Therefore, as a last resort, he carried the now whole Rosetta Stone in his backpack, which he planned to use as a final bargaining chip to trade for Justin's life, should it come to that. Every inch of the Stone had been carefully photographed under the microscope and saved as a digital copy in the Hab's computers before they'd left Thorn Valley, so, should they lose the original item, it wouldn't be much of a loss.

Driving through hostile territory using the darkness of night for cover, they had gotten as far as the lake where Josh had ditched his pod months ago when he'd first landed on Nimh-Beta. After hiding the Rover off the beaten track behind some trees, where no passersby's were likely to spot it, they had crossed the lake in a dingy Josh had brought along and made their way out onto the lava plains in absolute silence, taking great care not to be spotted by any roving patrols.

Rosebush City loomed into view ahead of them. Once a welcoming sight for Josh, now that place that had briefly been his new home was an enemy lair, filled with Rats who wanted his head on a platter for the alleged murder of their King. And they were going to break right into it! But Josh wasn't so concerned about being caught as he was for the volcano towering in the background, right above the city. From afar, it still looked dormant and silent, but his instruments told him it was only a matter of time before it blew its head off and Rosebush City would become a new Pompeii. The latest readings gave them an estimated 12 hours left before the eruption.

Instead of heading for the city gates, Baffor led them to a large stone statue of the Great Owl sitting on the side of a nearby hill. At the foot of the statue was what looked like an old, dried-up well.

"This used to be the City's well centuries ago," explained Baffor, "After our workers managed to tap directly into the water source and channelled it to flow underneath the City, it ran dry and was abandoned. There is a tunnel that connects this well with the City's new well. It's located..."

"...in the city's central square, at the foot of Nicodemus' statue," finished Tanya, also remembering, "Isabella and I once tried following it out of the city during one of our night adventures, to explore, but couldn't because we had no rope."

"You were sneaking Her Highness out of the palace in the middle of the night?" asked Baffor, raising an eyebrow. Under normal circumstances, he would have reported Tanya for breaking every safety rule concerning members of the royal family and that they should never leave the palace without security escorts. "If Nicodemus had known..."

"Actually, I think he did," said Tanya, remembering how Justin had once caught them during one of their night excursions outside the palace, almost as if he had been following them. But instead of reporting them, he had simply escorted them back to the secret tunnel, telling them they had had enough wanderings for one night. Isabella had always suspected her grandfather, sympathising for the fact that once she became Queen she would have no liberties whatsoever, had turned a blind eye to their mischief, but had ordered Justin to tail them all the same, to keep them out of trouble. Beneath his royal authority, Nicodemus had been a very open-minded and trusting personality, to the point of allowing his granddaughter to wonder outside the safety of the palace incognito and in the company of her maid friend in order to experience what might be the only real freedom she would ever know.

Using a length of rope, the party made their way down to the bottom of the well. Like Baffor had said, not a drop of water remained. A narrow tunnel in the wall, from where water was once diverted to the city well, led downhill into complete darkness. A secret route into the city!

"This way," said Baffor, pointing at the tunnel. Crawling on their knees, the party made their way down the tunnel using flashlights to light their way. The tunnel kept slopping downwards until Josh was certain they were way below the city's street level. As they kept moving, the tunnel walls turned moist, until they found themselves wading through water.

"How much further?" asked Josh, starting to feel rather claustrophobic from the rapidly rising water. Pretty soon, they'd need air tanks to go any further, which they didn't have. And he didn't fancy the prospect of swimming along a flooded underground tunnel just by holding his breath.

"We are almost there," said Baffor, who seemed to know exactly where he was going. At last, the tunnel levelled out, ending inside the shaft of another well, which, unlike the one they'd just come through, was full of water. Holding their equipment and weapons above their heads to keep them dry, they looked up and saw the opening, illuminated by the dim light of flaming torches from the city's underground streets.

Josh went up first. Rope tied around his waist, he scaled the wall using his suit's pickaxe as an anchoring tool. Slowly and cautiously, he lifted his head out of the well, his eyes scanning his surroundings for any signs of guards. There was not a soul to be seen. All the windows of the surrounding houses and shops were dark, their owners fast asleep. They had come out smack in the middle of the city square, where a towering statue of the late King Nicodemus stood proud. They had made it inside the City!

Securing the rope to a nearby pillar, he whispered to the rest of his group down in the well, "All clear, come on up, one at a time. And keep very quiet!"

With Josh keeping a sharp lookout for any unwanted company, the rest of the rescue team climbed out of the well. Once everyone was safely back on dry ground, they didn't dare hang about. Out here on the streets, they were totally exposed and likely to be spotted at any moment. In their haste, however, they didn't notice the water down in the well slowly start to boil, a premonition of the disaster soon to come.

Grabbing their gear, they ducked into a nearby alleyway, away from any prying eyes, to prepare for their next move. Josh opened up a zip-bag he'd brought along, containing their arsenal for this mission: Fitzgibbons' gun, two Tasers, Brutus and Baffor's swords, and the makeshift laser-gun he had built with Jonathan Brisby months ago, all cleaned and repaired, but still reeking horribly of dead giant cat innards.

On their way to Rosebush City, realising they'd need more firepower, Josh had taken a brief detour into the ravine where they'd found Dragon's decaying corpse during their expedition to the Dry Sea. After several horrific minutes of performing the most disgusting animal autopsy in history and pawing around in Dragon's stomach, up to their elbows in a soup of slimy maggots, half-digested Rat and Mice remains, rotting cat flesh and even their own vomit, they finally managed to fish the laser out of the carcass. The harness had snapped and a few dents were visible on the chamber, but otherwise it was still intact, having proven completely indigestible even for a giant cat. A severed skeletal Rat hand, which Josh figured was Castor's, still gripped the weapon. Once they had washed off the slime, they were armed to the teeth and ready to go to war.

Josh distributed the weapons: he took Fitzgibbons' gun, Brutus, who was the strongest, took the heavy laser-gun, whilst Baffor and Bernard each took a Taser, in addition to their customary swords. Josh also handed out night-vision goggles, which they would need in order to get around in the dark without the need for torches or flashlights, which, if used, would give them away in no time at all.

Like a unit of Green Berets, they noiselessly made their way through the city streets, heading towards the palace. Every now and then, they'd spot the odd soldier Rat doing his rounds, but were luckily able to avoid them. As they came within sight of the palace walls, they were suddenly caught off-guard by Tanya's terrified gasp. Like lightning, Josh clamped his hand over her mouth before she could scream and give them all away.

"What's the matter, Tanya? What's wrong?" Tanya pointed up at something hanging from a nearby lamppost, which none of them had noticed until now.

The entire rescue party felt their blood curdle as they laid eyes on the mutilated and deformed body of Gussie Mausheimer, whom they had left in charge of the liberated Mice back at Minsk months ago. The body bore clear evidence of hideous torture and was in an advanced stage of decomposition, indicating it had been hanging up there for weeks. A board hang around her neck, spelling the words: 'Convicted traitor and aider of enemies of the Empire!' All along the street, they could see more Mouse and Rat bodies alike strung up from lampposts in a hideous display, no doubt as a warning to others. Pools of dried-up blood stained the ground underneath the hanging bodies, as well as lumps of filthy food scraps that had been thrown at them in an attempt to desecrate them. It would seem, under Jenner's rule, traitors were not entitled to any sort of dignity whatsoever, not even a proper burial.

Tanya, looking as if she was about to faint from horror, turned away and buried her head in her father's chest, sobbing. Bernard held her close, muttering soothing words in her ear.

"Bloody animals!" growled Josh, feeling rage and disgust boiling up inside him. Not only had all these poor souls been innocent and convicted unjustly, but Jenner sought to degrade them even further, after he'd had them executed. By stringing them up here to rot, for everyone to see, he no doubt hoped to deter anyone who might think of resisting him, or aid those who had the courage to do so – people like them. This whole gruesome spectacle was undoubtedly meant for them to see. At least, they were relieved to see Justin wasn't one of them, not yet anyway.

"Even the Nazis could learn a thing or two from that bastard," muttered Josh, as Brutus drew his sword and cut the bodies down. Josh pulled out his gun. "All right, where do we go from here, Tanya?"

"There is a secret passage running under the floor of a bakery across the street from the palace," said Tanya, "That's the one Isabella and I used to sneak out sometimes. The shopkeeper's wife would let us in and out of the shop, pretending we were just customers, without her husband noticing."

"Well, time for some night-time shopping," said Josh, "Lead the way, Tanya."

Tanya led them to a cobbled street lined with shops, all closed for the night, not far from the palace gates, which, even from afar, they could see were sealed tight and under heavy guard. No chance of waltzing in through the front door, thought Josh. Hopefully, Tanya's secret tunnel would be a better bet.

On the corner of the street was a bakery called J.M. Schimmel Finest Bread. While Brutus, Baffor and Bernard covered his back, Josh got to work picking the lock on the front door. After a few hectic tries, the tumblers gave and, like a band of burglars, they tiptoed inside the shop and shut the door behind them. The room inside was dark and deserted, although they could hear the faint sound of someone snoring upstairs, probably the owner. Josh gestured at the others to keep their mouths shut.

Tanya led them into a back room housing the large stone oven for the bread and where large sacks of flour were kept. She pointed at a loose slab of stone in the middle of the floor. They each took a side and heaved. The slab came away easily, revealing a narrow flight of stairs leading into a pitch-black tunnel underneath the shop.

"All right, we go through one at a time. I'll go first; Baffor, you and Tanya follow right behind me; Brutus, you pick up the rear. Now, when we come back out, we might have company on our tails. One of us should stay here, to make sure this entrance remains open. We don't want to find any unpleasant surprises waiting for us..."

"Hold it right there!"

Too late, Josh realised he had forgotten to keep his voice down. Turning, they saw a thickset Mouse dressed in a nightgown and nightcap, aiming a loaded crossbow in their direction. The shopkeeper, Mr Schimmel, furious at finding, what he obviously thought were thieves prowling around in his shop in the dead of night, kept his weapon trained on each of them in turn.

"I suppose you're the ones who robbed me last week too, aren't you?" he demanded angrily, "You thieving scum can't find your own food for once and instead you take it from us hardworking citizens! We'll see what the guards have to say about this...!"

"You don't understand, good sir, we're not thieves," Bernard tried explaining, "We're trying to save a friend's life..."

"Liar!" exclaimed the shopkeeper angrily, "I recognise you – you are those fugitive traitors the King is after! And the human too, I see." Obviously, he had recognised Josh the second he had laid eyes on him and realised whom he was dealing with. "I'm turning you all in!" Tanya whimpered. Brutus was about to tackle Schimmel and pin him to the floor, but froze when the latter pointed the crossbow in his face in warning.

"Look here, pal, you don't know what you are doing," Josh tried to reason with Schimmel, "We are not the traitors here; Jenner is, for murdering Nicodemus! He's got the princess and one of our own held prisoners in there! We just need to use your secret tunnel to break into the palace..."

"So you can assassinate him too, right?" retorted Schimmel incredulously, "I'm not becoming an accomplice to a murder plot against the King!"

"If you don't help us, then you're an accomplice to a false king who someday will be judged for his crimes," said Bernard, "Please, Mr Schimmel, you've got to see reason..."

"I have no choice," said Schimmel sadly, "If the authorities find out I helped you or even turned a blind eye, the law says they will hang me and my entire family for treason! I can't let you endanger my wife and son! I'm sorry."

There was nothing more to be said. Schimmel gestured to them to move towards the door. "We're going to see the district prefect. Keep your hands where I can see them... Hey, I said keep them up, human...!" In that split-second that Schimmel had taken his eyes off of him, Josh had reached behind him and pulled out Fitzgibbons' gun, tucked into his belt behind his back. Before Schimmel had a chance to react, Josh had the gun aimed right at him and pulled the trigger.

The plasma blast hit the crossbow, blasting it instantly into matchsticks. Schimmel, his face and hands singed and full of cuts from flying splinters, backed away, terrified, until he was flat against the wall.

"Please, don't kill me! Don't kill me...!" he begged, thinking the human meant to turn him into cat food with that lethal weapon of his. Josh kept the gun level with Schimmel's face, but didn't shoot.

"My apologies, Mr Schimmel, but you left me no choice," he said, as civil as he could, "I'll see to it that you're properly compensated for your troubles tonight, but all in good time. In the meantime, we'll tie you up and leave you somewhere to be found in the morning. This way, no one can accuse you of breaking the law."

Using some makeshift rope and a gag fashioned out of empty flour sacks, they tied Schimmel to a chair and moved him into a dark corner behind an oven, where he wasn't likely to be found until his family came downstairs in the morning to open the bakery, by which time they would be long gone.

They descended the stairs into the secret tunnel. Unlike the tunnel they'd used to sneak into the city, this one was high enough for them to stand in, making it a lot easier to follow. They walked for a long time without seeing any way out. But Tanya, who led the way, seemed to know exactly where she was going. Then, they came to a fork – one way leading uphill, the other down.

"We need to go up," said Tanya, pointing at the upward tunnel, "That leads into the royal sleeping quarters in the east wing. That's where Isabella's chambers are."

The continued on their way through the maze of tunnels, until they found themselves in a strange-looking passage formed by an uneven cave wall on one side and a smooth manmade wall of stone slabs on the other. They were walking inside the hollow walls of the palace's interiors, Josh realised. As the palace was built underground, like the rest of the city, the whole place naturally was riddled with such hollow walls.

A little ways further, they came to a small, secret room adjacent to the tunnel. They could see a number of interesting items scattered around the room, including a chair that seemed to have come from one of the bedchambers, parts of a rusty suit of armour, some old torch brackets and, joy of all joys, a pillory of the kind Josh had heard were used in the palace dungeons. Dust and cobwebs coated everything indicating nobody had been here for quite a while.

"This used to be our secret hideout," said Tanya, remembering fondly how she and Isabella used to sneak down here as children, whenever they were not too busy exploring the secret tunnels or using cracks in the walls to spy on others, to play...

A giggling eleven-year-old Tanya sat with her ankles locked in the stocks, which she and the then thirteen year old Princess Isabella had pinched right from under the guards' noses and sneaked into their hideout to play with. Tanya had only been employed as a scullery maid for a few weeks, after the then Lieutenant Justin had rescued her from the streets where she had been living homeless and destitute. Here, she had made a special friend.

Despite her luxurious lifestyle, servants, tutors and all the tender and loving care of her grandfather, Princess Isabella hated not having any playmates. With no siblings, or anyone else her own age living in the palace, she had taken an interest in the similarly lonely Tanya and the pair had quickly struck up a close friendship. Of course, lowly servants were by rule barred from having friendships with any members of the royal family, who were obviously way above their station, so the girls could only meet in secret. Tanya's discovery of the palace's secret tunnels and rooms, a secret which she shared only with Isabella, allowed them free reign of the palace at night, as well as plenty of privacy for them to play undisturbed.

Isabella sat on the chair she was using as a makeshift throne, pretending to be an evil Rat Queen and Tanya her peasant captive, who was suspected of witchcraft.

"Speak up, witch, and give me the secrets to your powers, or pay the penalty!" said Isabella, managing but a poor imitation of the stern tone used by the Council Rats during trials, some of which the pair had observed in secret from a secret tunnel running behind the same Council Chamber where Josh Anderson would one day be standing trial, through a crack in the wall.

"Never, evil Queen!" said Tanya, playing tough, "My secrets are my people's and you can never have them! The great Mouse King will come and rescue me, you'll see!"

"Never?" asked Isabella slyly, standing up, "Well, I have ways of making even the toughest of Mice crack!" Reaching into her dress, she pulled out a little something she had been dying to try out on her friend. Tanya gulped nervously, eying the feathers Isabella was waving in her face, realising what her friend had in store for her.

"Oh, no, no, no! Please, not that...!"

Too late. Isabella began running the feathers across Tanya's bare feet, making her burst into fits of laughter. At last, she had found her friend's secret little weakness! Tanya desperately struggled, but the stocks kept her locked in place, completely at Isabella's mercy, who was enjoying herself immensely.

"Not fair! Not fair!" screeched Tanya, laughing so hard she thought she was going to go insane, "Stop, Isabella! Please, stop it!"

"That's Your Majesty, to you," said Isabella, who couldn't resist being a little mean, without stopping, "And begging me for mercy is pointless. Unless, you want to tell me your greatest secret desire?" she asked cheekily.

"All right, I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" screamed Tanya, nearing hysterics, "Just stop tickling me!" Taking a few seconds to catch her breath from laughing too hard, she blurted it out.

"I wish I could have my parents and brother back," she said, losing her smile, as painful memories of her family resurfaced. Isabella suddenly felt very ashamed, realising she had unintentionally forced her friend to relive what must have been a very painful experience. Although Tanya rarely spoke of them, Isabella knew the full story from Justin and realised she had gone too far for the sake of a little fun.

"I'm so sorry, Tanya. I... I didn't mean to bring it up. I was so foolish!"

"Never mind, it is all in the past anyway," said Tanya, in spite of herself. Although she hated to admit it, knowing it would only hurt her more, she secretly hoped that Fievel, whom their parents had entrusted into her care, would still be alive and that they might be reunited someday. It would be a further three years before Josh would infiltrate the Exile's lair and find him.

"But maybe now, you can tell me your heart's secret desire?" she asked Isabella, figuring her friend at least owed her something in return. Isabella grew tense. Whatever secret it was, it was obviously some very sensitive topic. Tanya tried not to laugh at her friend's uneasiness, "Come on, Izzy, what is it?"

"You must swear never to reveal it to anybody," Isabella said finally, looking very serious, "If you do..." She held the feathers close to Tanya's feet again in warning. Tanya promised on her life, not in the least keen on invoking another round of tickle torture.

"I wish Justin will one day be my husband," said Isabella, blushing scarlet. Even at the tender age of thirteen, Isabella had a great crush on the handsome Justin ever since he had joined the Royal Guard, and often had fantasies of marrying him someday; something highly unlikely, given Justin was not of royal blood like she was. Tanya burst out laughing.

"You're in love with Justin?!" she asked, thinking it was very funny. "Really?" That would be something she would often tease Isabella about for years to come. She continued laughing like crazy, "King Justin and Queen Isabella, the royal couple of lovebirds!"

Isabella raised an eyebrow; she didn't like being laughed at. She pulled out the feathers again. Before she knew what was happening, Tanya was once again lost in gales of ticklish laughter, screaming and begging for mercy...

When Tanya turned thirteen, she was promoted to Princess Isabella's personal maid, allowing them to spend time together without having to do so in secret, becoming her personal confidant. It was those fun times together that helped Tanya get over the pain of losing her family and home, although she never forgot about them, until the day when fate would finally reunite them all...

"You and Isabella must have had quite a fun childhood together," commented Josh, looking around the girls' long-disused hideout, "Wish my childhood were half as adventurous."

"I thought you were born into adventure, Josh," said Tanya, who had always imagined her human friend as having had a thrilling childhood, in order for him to turn out such a capable soldier and astronaut. Josh chuckled.

"Adventure didn't really start for me until I joined the Royal Air Forces when I was eighteen," he said. "Before that, the only exciting thing I ever did was driving the tractor on my uncle's farm, or building model planes. I still remember the day I flew my first real plane in flying school – an ancient Cessna 150. The bug really took a hold of me then and I'd wanted to go into space ever since. Guess I got my wish in more ways than one..." Indeed, besides being a world-renowned flying ace and one of only seven people to experience interstellar travel, he was the only human being in history to conquer space-time or to live to be over 2000 years old!

Not a bad entry for the Guinness Book of Records, he thought with a smirk. Not that there would ever be such a record published. At best, there might be an old, forgotten monument dedicated to him and his crew, none of which would ever be buried on their home planet, still standing somewhere back on Earth.

"Will you two shut up before you give us all away and keep moving?" hissed Brutus incredulously, "We're on a mission here, not battle recuperation leave!"

They kept moving through the tunnels, until they came to the back of the false wooden tapestry that led to Isabella's chambers. Pushing it, they entered the princess's bedchamber, but found it empty. All of them gasped at the state of thorough ransacking the room was in.

All of Isabella's valuable possessions were scattered everywhere. Drapes had been torn down, drawers and closets turned inside out, all of their contents lying trampled all over the floor. Whoever had ransacked the place must have been desperately looking for something in order to leave behind so much damage, yet nothing seemed to be missing.

"Jenner must have been here," figured Josh grimly, "He obviously thought Nicodemus had entrusted the Stone to Isabella before he died."

"So, where is she?" asked Brutus, puzzled by the Princess's absence. As far as they could tell, the forced marriage between her and Jenner they'd heard about from Sullivan hadn't taken place; so why would she have been moved? And where to?

"She was supposedly confined to quarters after suffering a mental breakdown from the death of His late Majesty," said Baffor, equally baffled. According to Jenner, Isabella was in the care of the royal physicians, who had forbid all visitors because she was of unsound mind and thus a danger to herself. A bunch of lies and bollocks, Josh thought sourly. Whatever Jenner had done with her, it didn't look good. Meanwhile, their mission was still incomplete.

"We need to make our way down to the dungeons," said Brutus, "That's where Justin is probably being held." He headed for the door. Baffor shook his head.

"Prison security has been tightened dramatically since you and Justin deserted," he said, "The number of guards has nearly tripled and all security measures reinforced. The guards even have orders to execute any prisoners immediately, should anyone attempt to free them, as a deterrent measure against breakouts. There is no way we can get past them unnoticed."

The rescue party had hit a snag; they could try breaching the dungeons by force using their advanced weaponry, which could easily outstrip any guards Jenner could throw at them, but it would all be for naught if Justin were killed in retaliation before they could get to him. Then, Tanya spoke up.

"There is a secret tunnel that leads down to the dungeons," she said, "That's how Isabella and I managed to nick that set of stocks without being caught, among other things." Bernard looked sharply at his daughter. It may have been just childish fun, but he still didn't approve of his daughter stealing or sneaking into forbidden places.

They continued on further through the secret passages. Judging by the sloping of the tunnel, Josh realised they had to be nearing the lower levels of the palace, where the dungeons were. He could already feel the air becoming more humid and stale, indicating a lesser ventilated area.

At last, they came to what looked like just another solid wall. But Tanya, examining the stones in a corner, found one which, unlike the others, had no mortar around it, and pressed it. There was a low rumbling sound and a chunk of the wall at their feet swung sideways on an axle, revealing a hidden doorway.

They entered, finding themselves in some sort of macabre workshop or storage area, where all the prison equipment was kept and maintained.

Freshly oiled shackles and manacles hang from the ceiling, newly-built pillory of all sizes stood in rows awaiting customers, as well as a sinister collection of torture and execution equipment, including stretching-racks, iron-maidens, pendulums, guillotines and even branding-irons. A fire was still glowing in a large blacksmith's forge in a corner of the room, indicating business in medieval prison practices was booming under Jenner's rule. The mental image of dozens of innocents finding themselves on the receiving end of all that sinister equipment made Josh's stomach churn.

Weapons in hand, they made their way past the prison blacksmith who lay snoring in a corner with a breath smelling like a winery, out of the workshop and into a corridor lit by flaming torches that led to the cells. Josh had never been in this part of the palace before.

"Which way now, Baffor?"

Baffor led them down the corridor, until they came to a locked metal door. A pair of armed guards sat dozing on either side of the door. Charged Tasers in hand, Josh and Brutus suddenly lunged at the guards, zapping them in the neck and sending them sinking to the floor like sacks of potatoes.

With the guards bound and gagged in a corner where they wouldn't cause them any trouble, Josh cut the lock out of the door using his laser cutter and in they went. The cells were a horrid place of filth and squalor, even worse than Minsk's, practically unthinkable on 21st century Earth, except perhaps in some of the lowest of third world countries.

Dozens of cells, divided by bars, resembling animal cages rather than a prison and allowing no privacy whatsoever, where hoards of starving and sickly prisoners sat huddled together in shackles. Among them, Josh could see some who were dead from starvation or disease, yet the bodies hadn't been moved out, instead left to rot among the living. Jenner's reforms of the justice system no doubt meant incarceration of anyone he considered an opponent or a dissident in the slightest, so the cells were now dangerously overcrowded.

At the sight of Josh and his party, the prisoners excitedly rose to their feet, crowding up against the bars. Josh could see many familiar faces he'd gotten to know among them, including Tony Toponi and Bridget and even Sullivan, who sat huddled in a corner, looking much thinner than Josh remembered him and his face swollen from repeated beatings, making Josh deeply sympathise for the Rat who had once held him in a similarly low regard as Jenner. Others less fortunate, including Gussie Mouseheimer, were no longer there.

"Captain Anderson, sir!" exclaimed Tony Toponi, "You've come to get us out! What took you so long?"

"Thank the Great Mouse of Minsk you've come, sir!" said Bridget, bursting into tears of relief, kissing Josh's hand through the bars. "So many have died already, even poor Gussie..." Their imprisonment had obviously been brutal, probably even worse than with the Exiles, during which time they had seen many good friends and family die on the executioner's block, filling Josh with a deep feeling of guilt for not acting sooner. At least, they weren't too late in saving some of these poor folk.

With Brutus covering their backs with the laser-gun in case more guards came along, Josh and Baffor got to work unlocking all the cell doors and unfastening the prisoners' shackles, while Tanya and Bernard ran to a nearby water barrel, bringing cupfuls of water for those suffering from dehydration. Thirst, starvation, disease and ill-treatment had taken their toll on all the prisoners, but it seemed those who had survived thus far would recover. But the one face they were looking for was nowhere to be seen. Josh paled; perhaps they were too late? Had Justin been executed?

"Does anyone know where they have Justin?"

"They brought him in sometime last night," explained Bridget, "But they didn't put him in with us. I don't know where he is. We know they didn't kill him, or else they'd have paraded his head around the whole prison for all of us to see, like they did the others."

"The isolation cells," said Baffor, "Important or valuable prisoners are kept separate from the others in isolated, private cells down on the lower level."

Josh considered; obviously, they would have to make their way down to the isolation cells to find Justin, but they couldn't just leave all these prisoners unprotected. There was no way they could make their way out of the prison, never mind the city, on their own. Only one thing for it then.

"Brutus, Baffor, Bernard, you three stay here and get everyone out of those cells, but do it quietly," he ordered, "If someone upstairs hears us, we'll have a whole army come crashing down on us like a ton of bricks. I'm going to find Justin."

"I'll come with you, Josh," offered Tanya almost immediately, but Josh declined the offer.

"I need you here to assist with the evacuation," he told his friend. Seeing Tanya's hurt face at being snubbed, he added, "There are many sick and injured who need help being moved out. The more available hands, the sooner we can get out of here. You just keep up the good work, Tanya. Don't worry, I'll be right back."

Without another word, he turned and hurried away towards the stairs that led to the lower level where Baffor had said the isolation cells were.

It didn't take him long to locate the isolation cellblock. Unlike the cells upstairs, these were tiny stone rooms of solitary confinement, where individual prisoners were kept in total isolation behind locked doors, in the dark, with only a tiny, barred observation window for the jailors to check in on them.

Tasering a lone guard during his rounds up and down the corridor and taking his keys, Josh began checking every cell for any sign of Justin or Isabella. Curiously enough, there seemed to be very lax security, even down here. Where were all those extra guards Baffor had claimed? Why weren't they here, guarding one of the Empire's most wanted outlaws who had just been apprehended? Could this be a trap?

"Justin! Isabella!" he called, "Anybody here?" At first, there was no reply. Then, he heard Justin's voice coming from a cell at the far end of the corridor.

"Josh, in here! I'm here!"

Hurrying over to the cell door, Josh got to work trying to get it open. After several tense seconds of fiddling with the jailor's keys, he finally found the right one and swung the door open. Justin was inside all right, shackled up against the wall by his wrists, looking like he'd been crucified. Josh could see some bruises on his face and a bloodied lip, but luckily no major injuries. It seemed the bastards hadn't had enough time to torture him for information to the extent of doing any serious damage.

Hurrying over to his friend, he tucked his gun in his belt and took out his laser cutter. Preying it had enough juice left in its battery, he cut through the chains of the shackles, cutting Justin down. He helped him sit and passed him a canteen of water.

"Are you all right? Damn it, Justin, I'm sorry we took so long. We got here as fast as we could."

"I'm fine," muttered Justin, nursing his bruised wrists. In his relief to find his friend alive and unharmed, Josh didn't notice the dark look in Justin's eyes, as he eyed the gun tucked in Josh's belt and then the backpack hanging over his shoulders. "Did you bring the Stone to trade for me?"

"Yeah, although it doesn't look like we'll need to, after all," said Josh absentmindedly, his attention on the door, in case more guards came along. He helped Justin to his feet. "Can you walk? Come on, we need to get back to the others and get the hell out of here... What the-?!"

Suddenly, Justin lunged forward and grabbed the gun tucked in Josh's belt. Caught by surprise, Josh had no time to react. Justin pushed the man up against the dungeon wall, the gun aiming directly at his face. There was a wild look in Justin's eyes. Josh couldn't believe this was happening. Justin, his friend and comrade, the first Rat who had trusted him even though he was a human, had turned on him?

"Justin, what the hell are you doing? Have you lost your goddamn mind?"

"I'm sorry, Josh, but I have to do this," said Justin. Josh was alarmed to see that he was shaking all over. "I have to kill you and get that Stone to Jenner or Isabella will die!"

"Isabella?" asked Josh, whose party had so far seen no signs of the Princess anywhere, "Do you know where she is? What has Jenner done with her?"

"He raped her, Josh!" Justin exploded with rage, spit flying from his mouth, "He raped her, beat her, and now he's stashed her away somewhere and will leave her to die unless I get the Stone to him! We left her behind, Josh! No, you left her behind!" Justin's accusatory words made Josh cringe.

Although Josh could understand Justin's despair that had driven him to this madness, no doubt the result of another of Jenner's sick manipulations, he couldn't just let him have the Stone. He tried to reason with him.

"Justin, put the gun down, please," he said, trying to get through to him, "You know Jenner isn't going to keep his end of the bargain. Giving him the Stone isn't going to help Isabella. You'll only be letting him win."

"I don't care!" exclaimed Justin, looking as if he was about to be sick, "You didn't see her, Josh! He had tortured her, violated her up to the point that she's now but a shell of her former self! We've failed Nicodemus and now we've failed her too! How much more must she suffer because of that accursed Stone?!"

Josh couldn't think of anything else to say. Now he realised exactly how much Isabella meant to Justin and not just out of loyalty. Having failed at every attempt to get to Josh or the Stone, the scheming Jenner had manipulated Justin's weakness in the worst possible way, blackmailing him into doing his dirty work for him. No wonder there were so few guards stationed down here; he had meant Josh to walk right into this! Justin raised the gun direct between Josh's eyes.

"Give me the Stone. Now!"

Josh complied and took off his backpack. He passed it to Justin. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough. "Justin, you don't have to do this, please..."

"Forgive me, Josh," mumbled Justin. Josh could see that he was crying with shame and guilt at what he was about to do, albeit forced against his will. His finger slowly squeezed on the trigger. Josh was in a dilemma; he could try grabbing the gun hand and relieve Justin off his weapon. But if the weapon discharged in the struggle, either of them could end up with his head blown off, especially Justin. And the last thing Josh wanted was to kill his own friend. Before he could make up his mind however, an unexpected voice caught them both by surprise.

"He's right, Justin, don't do it. I can tell you where the princess is."

Turning, they saw Sullivan, who had followed Josh, staring at them from the door with wide eyes. No doubt he had heard the whole conversation or a good part of it anyway, enough to realise what this was all about. The pair froze; Josh wanted to yell at Sullivan to run before the deranged Justin decided to turn the gun on him too, and Justin for him not to interfere and force him to hurt him, maybe even kill him. But neither of them could utter a word as they realised what Sullivan had just said.

"I think I know where the princess is being held," repeated Sullivan, "Jenner has a small secret cell under the floor of his bedchamber. I've noticed it a few times, when it was used to hide...evidence of his crimes." Josh needn't ask what kind of 'evidence' Jenner would want to bury under the floor of his own chambers. The thought alone made his stomach churn. Nonetheless, the information had arrived in the nick of time. He turned to Justin.

"You see, Justin? There is always another way. Now, will you trust me? Put the gun down and we can go and find her together."

It took a long while for Justin to react. For several minutes, he just stood there, gun level with Josh's head, petrified with indecision, or perhaps horror, only now realising what he had almost done. At last, he dropped the gun and sunk to the floor, sobbing.

"I'm so sorry, Josh!" he cried, his voice filled with shame and remorse, "I... I don't know what came over me! Jenner was right; I am weak! I let him talk me into betraying my soldier's honour!"

Tucking his gun away, Josh bent down to comfort him. "Justin, you aren't weak. That cowardly, low-life scum used Isabella and your loyalty to her in order to manipulate you, to get to me – and he failed. He couldn't force you to kill me. There is nothing to be ashamed of." Despite his enduring shame at his actions, Justin was amazed that Josh was just willing to forget what had just happened.

"We won't speak another word about this again, not to anybody," said Josh, looking at Sullivan, who nodded in understanding. The last thing they needed was to stir up unrest amongst their group if it came out that Justin had tried to murder Josh to steal the Stone. He passed Justin a sword. "We don't have much time; the volcano is going to go up in the next few hours. Yes, the volcano just outside the city," he added, noticing Justin and Sullivan's shocked expressions. "Now, I believe there is a Princess upstairs waiting to be rescued. Let's go!"

They made their way back to the main prison area. Most of the prisoners had been liberated by now and were being escorted towards the secret tunnel by Bernard and Tanya, to freedom. Brutus and the others were overjoyed to see Justin alive, but cringed when they heard about Princess Isabella's plight and everything Jenner had done to her. Brutus was furious.

"The traitor!" he raged, "How dare he lay his hands on the sacred person of the Princess?! Justin is right; we have to find her now!"

"Well, thankfully, now, we have somebody to lead us to her," said Josh, gesturing at Sullivan, who looked terribly uneasy in the company of his, until fairly recently, sworn enemies.

"Him?" retorted Brutus incredulously, glaring at Sullivan, "That snivelling coward, who switches sides whenever it suits his own interests? He's Jenner's sidekick! He helped murder Nicodemus, framed us all for treason, and you're going to trust him to help you rescue the Princess?" Sullivan looked hurt at Brutus' words, but, alas, knowing they were true, lowered his head shamefully.

"Not anymore, he isn't," said Josh, "He stood up to Jenner and he discarded him like garbage. That's as good a redemption as any in my book." The Rats looked at each other doubtfully. Sullivan, redeemed?

"He saved my life," put in Tanya, who would never forget that it had been Sullivan's change of heart that had saved her when Jenner had almost caught her trying to escape. If it weren't for him, she would now be in the same situation as Isabella, or worse. "I say we ought to at least give him a chance." Sullivan's eyes brightened with hope.

"All right, so how do we sneak into Jenner's quarters?" asked Josh, "Is there a secret passage we can use? Tanya?" But Tanya shook her head.

"There is no way to get into Jenner's quarters, other than the door," she said, "Isabella and I have tried. It's secure as a fortress." Josh might have guessed as much; after all, given what had been going on behind those doors, probably for years, Jenner wouldn't have wanted someone eavesdropping and discovering his crimes. It seemed they had no choice but to go crashing in on the front door.

"All the corridors upstairs will be heavily guarded," warned Baffor, "Protocol says should any intruder be sighted trying to get to the King, he is to be evacuated to safety, while the guards cover his escape and take on the intruder."

Josh and the others frowned; if they were discovered and the alarm sounded, even if they were able to take out the guards, Jenner might still manage to escape, taking the captive Isabella with him. They could not allow that and they certainly had no intention of leaving without Isabella, not again.

"And it gets worse," continued Baffor, "There is an hourly rotating shift for all the palace guards; all guards are relieved by new ones at the toll of every hour, day and night." Josh glanced at his watch. Best he could remember, they had broken in just after midnight; and around forty minutes had passed since then. That meant, in about twenty minutes, someone was going to come down here to relieve the prison guards and find a mass escape in progress.

"You're telling me this now?!" he hissed at Baffor. There wasn't a moment to lose. But how the hell were they supposed to get past the guards? Josh racked his head for a plan, but nothing seemed to come to mind. Then, Sullivan spoke up again.

"We can use the servant's stairwell," he said, "It leads into the corridor just outside the door to Jenner's quarters." Although not a perfect plan, at least it increased their chances of catching Jenner unawares. But they couldn't just leave the rest of these prisoners down here waiting for them until they came back, thought Josh. He turned to Baffor.

"Start moving everyone out through the secret tunnel at once. When we come back, we might have company on our tail, so be ready to run! Don't wait for us." Baffor nodded in understanding. Josh turned to the rest of his team, "Let's go!"

Leaving Bernard and Tanya to unlock the rest of the cells and Baffor to continue with the evacuation, Josh, Justin, Brutus and Sullivan made their way to a stairwell, just outside the main prison area. That stairwell connected to the main corridors on each level, mostly used by servants, whenever summoned by members of the royal family.

They made their way upstairs, until they came to the level where the royal bedchambers were located. Although now king, Jenner still retained his old chambers rather than move into Nicodemus' lavish quarters, which, Josh had heard from Baffor, he'd ordered demolished, along with the study and everything else Nicodemus had prized most, probably just to spite his deceased uncle.

He listened at the closed door that led out into the main corridor. No sound of any footsteps that would indicate a guard on patrol, which struck Josh as odd. Slack security down in the prison area he could buy, given Jenner meant him to walk into a trap by using Justin as the instrument as well as the bait, but up here, he would expect a small army to be protecting the King as he slept.

Justin was just about to open the door for a peep, when suddenly Josh became aware of a strange difference in the air. Although he couldn't smell any odour, the air coming in through the crack around the doorframe seemed to be making him feel dizzy. Something was wrong.

Sure enough, as Justin slowly opened the door and stuck his head outside to check if the coast was clear, suddenly, his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed without a sound. As a trained astronaut, familiar with toxic atmospheric conditions sometimes encountered onboard spacecraft when the air-recycling systems failed, Josh instantly realised what was happening.

"Carbon monoxide!" he shouted, "Shut that door, quick!"

They quickly pulled Justin back inside and shut the door, blocking out the poisoned air before it could get them too. They laid Justin down on the floor. After a few whiffs of oxygen from a small O2 tank Josh carried and a few slaps to the face, he came round.

"What...what happened?" he muttered, feeling disoriented, "Everything started spinning and then it all went dark..."

"You nearly walked into a gas chamber, that's what happened," said Josh gruffly, helping him stand. Fortunately, he hadn't been harmed. Taking out his environmental analyser from his kit, he examined the air through the crack underneath the door. Carbon monoxide level: 67% Lethal.

Josh cursed for not thinking of bringing along his and Fitzgibbons' space suits. They would have come in very handy now. Unfortunately, they had no respirators handy and without any, there was no way forward. His eyes lit up as he spotted a bucket of charcoal and ashes in a corner, probably left behind by one of the maids sweeping the fireplaces.

Digging into his backpack, he took out a length of cloth. Tearing it into four strips, he grabbed a fistful of charcoal, crushed it into powder and wrapped it into the pieces of cloth. To finish the process, he drenched them with water from his canteen, improvising makeshift respirators. Although not perfect, the charcoal should absorb most of the carbon monoxide, allowing them to breathe in there, at least long enough to make it to higher ground where the air was clear. He passed them round.

"All right, remember, keep your mouths and noses well covered," he said, "Also, breathe easy; these filters are not perfect and too many deep breaths will quickly saturate them. Carbon monoxide is a heavy gas, so we need to get to higher ground to get clear of it. Keep your wits about you and don't stop for anything. All right, let's move!"

With everyone holding their makeshift respirators firmly against their faces, Josh swung open the door and ushered them all out, quickly shutting it behind them. No reason to let that poisoned air make its way down the stairwell to the dungeons, where their friends were.

In the corridor beyond, they were confronted by the sight of dozens of dead guards lying toppled over onto the floor like overturned mannequins, all having died instantly from asphyxiation when the gas had swept the room. Among them, they also noticed a chamber maid, lying lifeless in a pile of laundry she had been carrying. Even the torches on the walls were extinguished, their flames smothered from when all the oxygen in the air had suddenly disappeared. Looking down the length of the corridor, Josh saw the source: a long crack had appeared in the centre of the floor, from where the hissing sound of gas under pressure escaping could still be heard.

"By the mercies of the Great Owl!" exclaimed Sullivan, staring wide-eyed at all the bodies lying prone on the floor, "What did this?"

"Volcanic activity," said Josh grimly, "We're getting very close to zero hour. Eyes ahead, keep moving!" Although he wasn't a professional geologist like the late Lt Stacy, he knew this was just the start of what was coming. Soon, there would be seismic activity, sulphur fume emissions, lava flows and finally a gigantic eruption that would level this city and bury its remains forever under a sea of red-hot magma and ash.

They made their way along the corridor, finding no survivors, and up a broad staircase that led to Jenner's chambers. Testing the atmosphere again, Josh saw the air up here was still safe to breathe. Losing their now useless respirators, they took out their weapons. Noiselessly, they approached the door that led to Jenner's bedchamber.

Brutus took a step forward to break in the door, but Josh stopped him. If Jenner realised he had a strike team about to descend on him, he wouldn't hesitate to use Isabella as a shield and then they'd have a hostage situation on their hands. Until she was safely retrieved, they couldn't just barge in or kill Jenner. He prayed to God that Sullivan's hunch was correct and that she was being held somewhere behind these doors. If they were wrong, it would take forever to search every hiding place in the palace and there was no guarantee that they could make Jenner talk, even if they took him alive.

Looking at Justin, Josh saw he was shaking in anticipation, no doubt thinking of the dire consequences for Isabella if they botched this up. Noticing he was losing his nerve, Josh fixed him with a firm gaze.

"Don't you quit on me now, mate," he said, "We've got this."

Pulling out his pocket-knife, he got to work picking the lock on the door, taking great care not to make any noise. At last, the door creaked open. On tiptoe, and with their weapons loaded, they entered Jenner's bedchamber.

The room had undergone a thorough remodelling from the last time Josh had visited it months ago, during the debate over Fievel's guardianship. Lavish furnishings, no doubt ordered and paid for with stolen taxpayers' money, filled the room, all bearing the tell-tale markings of Jenner's sinister nature: furniture edged with sinister carvings, black drapes and curtains, and plenty of decorative weapons and war trophies, including, to the group's outrage, a portrait of Nicodemus with the face burned off. Josh felt his anger rise. He should have connected the dots back then and realised Jenner had been the mastermind after the Stone, and acted upon it. If only he'd unmasked the traitor sooner, Nicodemus might still be alive.

Jenner lay snoring in a massive black bed with posts lined with skull carvings, matching his murderous, bloodthirsty personality. The infamous monarch and tyrant, who had ruthlessly oppressed his people from the moment he ascended to the throne, lay spread-eagle atop the covers, and Josh saw a part of his enemy's anatomy he wished he hadn't seen. A half-empty glass of wine was clutched in Jenner's outstretched hand, probably in testament of a little private celebration of Justin's capture and his belief that Josh would walk right into a trap and be killed by his own desperate comrade. Time to set his facts straight, Josh thought.

They crowded around Jenner's bed. Brutus moved to awake him, but Josh had a very different idea in mind. Jenner had overstepped the lines one too many times and it was time for a bit of retribution. Motioning to Brutus to stand back, he drew Fitzgibbons' gun and, taking aim, fired a shot right between Jenner's legs.

The red-hot plasma burst from the gun blew the whole front end of the bed and the floor beneath it apart; although the shot merely grazed Jenner, it was enough to vaporize a sizeable chunk of his groin. Jenner sat bold upright like a Jack-In-A-Box, his mouth open in a silent scream, his hands clutching the bloody mess between his legs, where his private parts had once been.

"You bastard," said Josh without flinching, "You foul, evil, raping, murdering bastard! How does it feel being the one in pain and agony? I must say, it gives me great satisfaction seeing you like this," he smirked. "And not because for what you did to Nicodemus; nor for framing me for it; this is for what you did to Isabella and then using her as collateral to force Justin to do your dirty work!"

"Anderson..." croaked Jenner through gritted teeth, in too much pain to speak properly, not daring to look at the damage Josh had inflicted on him, yet his eyes were flashing with vengeful rage. He reminded Josh of an injured viper; crippled but still deadly. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you...!"

"So said each one of your little associates before they died," said Josh coldly, "And so will you; but not until you've answered some questions. Now, where's Isabella?"

"I'm telling you nothing!" snarled Jenner, regaining some of his bravado, despite his pain, "She's mine! You can't have her!" He turned to Justin.

"You've just sealed your own princess's doom!" he smirked, an insane gleam in his eyes, "You will never find her! She will die with me, buried alive within these walls!" An enraged Justin moved to strike Jenner, but Josh stopped him. They could deal with him later. He turned to Sullivan.

"Where's that hiding place then?" Noticing Sullivan, who obviously knew what the intruders were looking for, Jenner's eyes flashed dangerously.

"You keep your mouth shut, Sullivan!" he growled, "Damn you, I should have killed you when I had the chance, you back-stabbing, snivelling traitor...!"

"Shut up!" yelled Josh. He turned back to Sullivan, "Well, out with it!"

For an instant, Sullivan seemed to be paralyzed with fear under Jenner's murderous gaze; his former master had always been notorious for administering severe punishments to anyone who dared betray his secrets. But, the knowledge that Jenner had dragged him into his traitorous plot to murder Nicodemus, something the guilt-ridden Sullivan had wanted no part in and hoped for the chance to redeem himself, overrode his fear.

"Over there," he said, pointing at a large slab of stone on the floor beside the bed. Bending over to examine it, Josh saw it wasn't fixed to the rest of the floor with mortar. A secret trapdoor! But as he and Justin tried prying it open, it wouldn't budge.

"Hello?" called Josh, slamming his palms on the stone, trying to make himself heard, "Is anybody down there? Isabella, can you hear me?" No answer. Justin paled. Perhaps they were too late? But then, suddenly, they heard it. A faint, muffled and barely audible voice, almost as if whoever it was, was gagged, calling for help.

"Help! Please, help...!" It was Isabella. She was still alive!

With renewed energy, Josh, Justin and even Sullivan attacked the slab again, trying to force it open, but it still wouldn't budge. Meanwhile, they were running out of time.

"Don't you know how to open this damn thing?" hissed Josh to Sullivan, who shook his head.

"I...I don't know," he mumbled, feeling at a loss. He wanted to help the princess, but at the worse possible moment, didn't know how to open a simple trapdoor! "I've seen it open a few times, but never how it's done."

They frantically looked around the bedchamber for a hidden lever or button that was used to open the trapdoor. There was nothing. Whatever mechanism was used to open it was obviously well hidden to keep anyone from finding it. For all Josh knew, it could be right under their ruddy noses and they couldn't bloody well see it! Jenner was laughing at their futile efforts.

"You'll never succeed," he smirked, "I personally had that built, so it could never be breached! I always keep my property well secured!" But Josh, who had been examining the slab, which, he realized, had held in place by latches fitted on the other side, ignored him and turned to Brutus and the laser-gun he was carrying. All they needed were the expertise of an engineer who understood locking mechanisms and a rock-boring laser that could cut through solid granite.

"Cut it open!"

On Josh's directions, Brutus fired the laser, carefully cutting through the stone slab at the corners. They all knew it was a great risk; if Josh had misjudged the positions of the latches, or if Brutus' hand slipped, even slightly, the laser beam could plough straight through Isabella trapped underneath the stone. At last, all four corners of the stone slab had been cut away, along with the latches that kept it buttoned down.

Heaving at the stone again, it opened easily. They lifted it off the trapdoor, revealing a hidden compartment, no bigger than a grave, underneath the floor. The rancid smell of sewage, rotten food and even blood filled their nostrils. Through the light of Josh's flashlight, they saw Princess Isabella lying prone on the bottom, bound and gagged, no doubt in an attempt by Jenner to muffle her cries should anyone come looking for her.

Justin didn't waste a second. Jumping down into the hole, he scooped Isabella up into his arms and carefully passed her up to Josh and Sullivan. They gently laid her down on the floor and Josh tore down the drapes from Jenner's bed to use to make her comfortable. They undid her binds and gag, cringing at the numerous marks of brutality visible all over her body.

Her beautiful silk dress was all torn and smeared in dirt and blood from all the beatings and the rapes Jenner had inflicted upon her, her face so badly bruised she was barely recognisable. Josh, who had seen rape victims before, namely civilians trapped in war zones, felt his anger rise. This wasn't just for personal satisfaction, he realised, but also to degrade her, crush her spirit out of sheer hatred towards her grandfather. As they wiped the grime and dried blood from her face, her bloodshot eyes fluttered open.

"Justin?" she mumbled, recognising a familiar face, "Captain Anderson?" Although luckily she was still coherent, indicating she hadn't suffered any brain damage, the mental scars of her ordeal clearly run very deep and would take a long time to heal, if they ever did at all.

"Yes, Isabella, it's us," said Justin, using Isabella's first name in her presence for the first time out of relief to find she wasn't completely broken after all. "You're safe now. Everything is going to be all right..." He tried to take her hand to reassure her, but she violently pulled away, as if being touched by a red-hot branding iron. She burst into racking sobs.

"Don't touch me!" she wailed, nearly chocking on her own tears, "I won't be touched by any man again! He... he forced himself on me! I've never felt so helpless, so unclean...!" She continued to sob and struggle, memories of all the horrors she had endured tormenting her without end.

Noticing how traumatized she was and fearing she might try and hurt herself, Josh quickly took out a small first-aid kit and prepared a sedative. That should keep Isabella quiet long enough for them to get her safely out of here and back to Thorn Valley, for proper medical care. They all glared at Jenner for his barbaric treatment; to their utmost outrage and disgust, the evil Rat was smiling. He was actually enjoying their horror at finding Isabella in this state!

Justin saw red. With a roar of rage, he sprang at Jenner, pinning him to the floor and pummelling him with blows and kicks. Right now, it didn't matter that Jenner was injured and maimed and obviously unable to defend himself; all Justin cared about was tearing this miserable monster of a Rat who had violated and hurt his Princess apart with his bare hands!

"How dare you, you heartless bastard!" he roared, "I will kill you for this!" It took the combined strength of Josh and Brutus to pull Justin off of Jenner.

"Justin, no! Enough!" Justin furiously shook them off.

"What!" he snapped, "Why should he be allowed to live? What gives that monster the right to live after what he's done?!"

"Best let your friend finish the job while he still can, human," smirked Jenner, spitting blood, "Otherwise, I will keep coming for you until I've destroyed you and everyone you care about!" Josh grabbed Jenner by the neck, so they were almost nose-to-nose.

"Trust me, I would like nothing better than to blow you into a million slimy pieces right here and now!" he snarled in Jenner's face, "However, I don't think Nicodemus would have wanted me to murder his own nephew, even after what you did to his granddaughter." Jenner's face twisted with hate at the mention of Nicodemus' name. "Instead, I'm going to let you live on as a eunuch. You will have the rest of your miserable life to experience what it feels like to be reduced to damaged goods!"

Dragging Jenner by the neck, he tossed him into the empty hole where Isabella had been locked up and Justin and Brutus slammed the slab back into place, sealing him in. That should buy them enough time to make their getaway. At that moment, they heard a commotion outside. Guards were approaching from everywhere, coming to their King's aid. With all the racket they'd caused, someone had obviously realised there was trouble and sounded the alarm.

"The King's in danger!" someone shouted, "All units to the royal bedchambers now!"

"We've got company," said Josh, grabbing his gun, "Time to go!"

With Justin carrying the semi-comatose Isabella and with Brutus and Sullivan covering his back, they left the royal bedchamber, fleeing down another corridor. They hadn't gotten far, when they ran into a garrison of armed guards coming in the opposite direction. At the sight of the intruders, they moved in for the kill. But they were coming up against some unheard-of, far superior firepower that nothing in their arsenal could counter.

Plasma bursts flew from Josh's gun, obliterating whole Rats where they stood, leaving puddles of blood and sizzled bits of flesh and fur all over the floor. At the same time, sweeping laser rays from Brutus' laser-gun swept across the corridor, beheading, bisecting and maiming every Rat in its path, sending them dropping to the floor in neatly dismembered pieces. As for Sullivan, unfamiliar with the Taser Josh had given him, resorted to bludgeoning an opponent on the forehead with the Taser's jagged end, until his fingers finally found the firing button, causing it to go off right in the guard's face and dropping him stiff on the floor.

But more and more Rats kept coming in from all around, making them realise there was an entire army swarming the place. Arrows from archers' crossbows flew everywhere. They were surrounded. Ducking behind anything they could find for cover, they kept firing back at the enemy, desperately trying to push them back.

Looking at his gun, Josh saw a red warning light start blinking on the barrel. The chamber was overheating from excessive use. One of the few limitations of EMP handguns was that they generated tremendous amounts of heat in their chambers whenever a plasma burst was discharged and had to be left to cool at regular intervals. The gunsmiths back on Earth who had designed them had anticipated, in the worst case scenario, some hostile alien life form, such as an attacking wild animal that could be taken down with a single good shot. This Wild-West-style shootout was not the kind of combat conditions they were designed for. Looking at Brutus' laser, he could see, that too, was beginning to overheat.

Before Josh could swallow the bitter fact that they might be forced to choose between surrendering or making a last stand, a new noise caught them all by surprise: an ominous, rumbling sound, coming from somewhere outside the city. Suddenly, the room shook. An earthquake, thought Josh. The volcano! But that can't be, he thought. There should be another four or five hours left.

Pulling out his HHC, which was linked up to the seismometers he had set up on the mountain months ago, he saw all readings were in the red. Due to some unforeseen geological anomaly, the volcano was erupting sooner than anticipated. Alas, even with modern technology, geology was not an exact science. Zero hour was upon them!

"Everybody down! Cover your heads!" he shouted, falling flat on the floor, hands held firmly over his head, his friends following suit. Cracks began to appear all along the walls and floor; chunks of rock, chandeliers and other debris fell from the ceiling, raining down on them all. At last, the earthquake died down, but the distant rumbling sound of the reawakened volcano didn't.

Josh pulled himself to his feet, dusting himself off. He was all covered in dirt and plaster, but otherwise hadn't been hurt. The corridor all around him was a shambles. Toppled suits of armour, debris, collapsed chandeliers and broken bodies lay everywhere. Nearby, a fire was burning from a pool of spilled oil from a torch bracket. The remaining soldiers, realizing that this was something that went way beyond their capabilities, had broken ranks and were fleeing for the exits.

Josh helped Brutus and Sullivan to their feet. Nearby, Justin, who had fallen on top of Isabella, in an attempt to shield her from the falling debris, frantically checked her over for injuries, but luckily finding none save for those she already had. He was glad she was unconscious from Josh's sedative; at least, this way, she wouldn't have to witness this latest nightmare they'd found themselves in.

"What was that? What's happening?"

"The volcano is going up early," said Josh, "We need to get the hell out of this city now!"

"It stopped," said Sullivan, looking like he'd just wet himself, "Is it over?"

"No, this is just the beginning," said Josh, who knew enough about volcanoes to know they were not out of the woods yet, "Very soon, the real eruption will come. This whole place will be buried under a sea of lava. And if we are not out of here when that happens, we'll be trapped!" At that moment, there was an incoming message on the radio.

"Josh, we've got trouble downstairs!" called Tanya's voice, "We need you down here fast!"

Outside the palace, on the city streets, pandemonium was raging. When the earthquake hit, panicked and confused citizens had risen from their sleep and taken to the streets, fearful that their homes might collapse on them. But outside wasn't much better either. Massive chunks of debris fell from the cavern roof that housed Rosebush City, injuring or killing dozens, and creating more panic.

Guards abandoned their posts and fled for the city gates to escape, whilst others struggled to control the mob, even trying to arrest people for breaking curfew, and starting riots. Having had no prior warning of the impending disaster and without orders on how to act in such an emergency, there was pure chaos, with civilians violently clashing with the soldiers, adding to the casualties. With the instinct of self-preservation spreading like wildfire, the entire city soon descended into anarchy.

Making their way back downstairs, Josh and the others found a scene of total disaster. A large portion of the prison roof had collapsed in the quake, causing an entire section of the prison area to completely cave in and killing several prisoners. Although, luckily, most of the prisoners had already been released and evacuated, one last cell was still occupied – the one housing Tony and Bridget.

Bernard and Tanya were struggling to get the cell door open. Baffor had gone to help escort the escapees through the secret tunnel to safety, leaving them on their own to finish unlocking the last of the cells, promising he would return soon.

Everything had been going like clockwork. Bernard had recruited several of the healthiest prisoners to assist in unlocking the remaining cells, speeding them up. Nearly a hundred prisoners had already been freed without a hitch. No more guards had shown up to interrupt them either. A few more minutes and they would have been done. Then, suddenly, the earthquake had struck and everything had come apart.

"Help! Get us out of here!" yelled Tony Toponi, struggling with the bars of the cell door, but of course they wouldn't give. Beside him, Bridget was sobbing. Any second now, there could be another earthquake that would bring down the rest of the ceiling and kill them both. And just when they were so close to freedom.

Bernard heaved with all his might, but the bars were of solid iron, designed to withstand the combined strength of even a dozen Mice with his big muscles. Tanya was frantically running to and fro, trying to find something they could use to force the door, but coming up empty-handed. They had lost their only set of keys, which she'd lent to another prisoner when he had gone to inspect some of the other cells and who now lay buried under the rubble of the collapsed ceiling. Where were Josh and the others? Where was Baffor? What was taking them so long?

At that moment, Josh and his party appeared at the door, looking bedraggled but otherwise unharmed. Thank the Great Mouse of Minsk! Tanya's heart soared with relief at the sight of them, but felt her insides turn to ice at the sight of Isabella in Justin's arms.

"What happened to her?" she asked, noticing how battered and bruised she was, "Is she going to be all right?" Justin didn't answer her, his expression very grim.

"Yes, yes, she will be fine," said Josh quickly, not keen on discussing the details of what Isabella had gone through with Tanya. "What's the status here?"

Tanya led them to the cell where Tony and Bridget were trapped. Josh and Brutus tried forcing the door, but it remained stubbornly solid. Taking out his later-cutter, Josh was about to cut the lock out, only to discover the battery was dead. He'd wasted all the power cutting through the locks of half the doors in this prison. His and Brutus' weapons would have come in handy, but they were both inoperable from overheating, needing at least half an hour to cool.

At that moment, there was a new noise; an ominous cracking sound, from the wall at the back of the cellblock. Cracks began to appear along the stone, unleashing smoke and scolding-hot vapours. The acrid smell of sulphur fumes filled the air, making their eyes burn. Looking, they saw with terror the red glow of molten lava appear in the cracks. There was a river of lava about to force its way into the room! Tony and Bridget began to panic.

"Help us, please!" screamed Bridget hysterically, "Please!" Josh turned to Tanya.

"Where are the keys?"

A shaking Tanya pointed at a large pile of rubble nearby, where a small river of blood was still trickling out from under the debris, which was the crushed body of one of the prisoners who had been helping them to unlock the cells. It had been he who had been carrying the keys when the ceiling had collapsed, killing him.

Hurrying over, Josh, with Bernard and Brutus' help, feverishly began shifting boulders, trying to get to the body. With every passing second, the cracks in the wall worsened under the tremendous pressure of the lava trying to force its way in. At last, they managed to shift the last chunk of debris aside, revealing the blooded and mangled body of a Mouse. Shattered bones stuck out through gaping wounds all over his mangled body. Tanya gasped at the sight and turned away, about to be sick.

Prying the ring of keys from the dead Mouse's rigid grip, Josh hurried back to Tony and Bridget's cell door, frantically trying key after key.

"Come on, come on, hurry!" yelled Tony, his eyes wide as saucers, "Get us out of here!"

At last, the right key turned in the lock and the door swung open. It was only then that Josh noticed that Tony and Bridget were also shackled to the wall with chains circling their ankles. Damn! Getting down on his knees, he frantically unlocked Tony's shackles. Behind them, a large chunk of the damaged wall shifted inward, expelling torrents of smoke; the lava was only seconds away from bursting in on them.

His heart in his mouth, Josh turned his attention to Bridget. He managed to undo one shackle, but as he tried to undo the second, the key jammed in the lock. Try as he might, he couldn't free it. The wall began to collapse.

"Leave her, Josh!" yelled Justin, "You can't save her...!"

"Like hell am I...!" Josh shouted back, but never got the chance to finish his sentence, because suddenly Brutus, on Justin's command, grabbed him and pulled him out of the cell, while Bernard did the same with Tony. Not a second later, the wall finally gave way and a torrent of red-hot lava came bursting through. The group were forced to watch in horror as the screaming Bridget was engulfed by the lava and instantly immolated.

"No!"

With the river of lava quickly coming their way, the group turned and run. They fled from the cells, towards the stairs, with the lava hot on their tail, incinerating everything in its path.

Making it upstairs to the living areas where they'd safe for a while, they collapsed, shaking all over: Josh, Justin, Bernard, Brutus, Sullivan, Tony and the unconscious Isabella in Justin's arms. Tony burst into wracking sobs.

"Bridget. My beautiful Bridget..."

Josh couldn't find a single word to comfort him, feeling a terrible sense of anger and guilt boiling up inside him. He furiously rounded on Brutus.

"Why the hell did you drag me away, you bloody idiot?!" he yelled incredulously, "Another two seconds and I would have had her free!"

"Josh, there was nothing you could have done," said Justin, trying to calm him down, "She was already doomed. Another two seconds and you would have only joined her. I couldn't let you do that." Josh was incredulous.

"We left one of our own behind to die!" he yelled, the horrific image of Bridget being burned alive by the lava playing over and over in his head like a terrible nightmare, her screams still echoing in his ears. "Do you realise what you just made me do?! I've never abandoned anyone in trouble before and you dragged me away! We let her die! We...!"

Noticing he was going to pieces, Brutus suddenly grabbed him by the neck and pinned him to the wall. Josh struggled to breathe in the massive Rat's rigid grip.

"That mouse girl was beyond help," he growled in Josh's face, "It's tragic and unfair, but it's the price every soldier has to pay sometimes. You can't save everybody! So get a grip on yourself, or do I have to beat some reason into you?!"

"Get off me, you bloody oaf...!" groaned Josh, struggling to loosen Brutus's grip from around his throat and maybe thump the stupid bugger who had the nerve to lecture him one good. He was glad when Justin came to his rescue. He ordered Brutus to loosen his grip and the latter let Josh sink to the floor like a sack of potatoes, nursing his throat.

"Josh, listen to me," he said, "Only a few hours ago, you stopped me from doing something desperate that would have accomplished nothing other than to cause you all pain." The others looked at Justin suspiciously, but luckily refrained from asking what he was talking about. Just as promised, that secret would stay between him and Josh forever. "Now, I had to stop you from doing something similar. We need you, Josh, now more than ever. Elizabeth needs you and so do her children. I couldn't allow you to abandon them now."

At the mention of Elizabeth and her children, Josh managed to calm down enough to get his emotions back under control. Deep down, he knew Justin was right; there was no way he could have gotten that shackle off in time to save Bridget. And Elizabeth needed him more; her children needed a fatherly figure in their lives, as he had promised Jonathan just before he died. Even Nicodemus' plan couldn't be fulfilled without him. As the leader, he had to keep on leading or all their hardships would be for naught. Finally, he stood up.

"Let's go. We need to keep moving!"

"I'm not coming with you," said Tony, huddled on the floor in a corner, his eyes still shining with tears, "My place is with Bridget. I'm not going anywhere!"

"So you're just going to sit there until the volcano puts you out of your misery, you brainless idiot?" growled Brutus incredulously, "On your feet now, son, or I'll beat the daylights out of you and drag you out of here by the tail, if I have to!" He took a step towards Tony, balling his fists, but Bernard stopped him.

"Let me try and talk to him," he said. He bent down to meet Tony's vacant gaze.

"Tony, when you first met my son, you and Miss Bridget kept him alive while you were all held in captivity because you gave him the strength to keep hoping for a better tomorrow. Likewise, Bridget held onto her dream of the day when all of us Mice would be seen as the equals of Rats. She wouldn't have wanted you to die here; she would want you to carry on, even without her, so that you can help us fulfil her dream. Come with us, please." He held out his hand.

After what seemed like forever, Tony finally took Bernard's hand, who pulled him to his feet. Although, right now, he wanted nothing better than to join the love of his life in death, he knew Bernard Mousekewitz was right. Bridget wouldn't have wanted him to give up now. With Gussie Mausheimer also dead, he was the only one left to continue her campaign for Mice equality with Rats. He owed Bridget that much.

The group of seven kept moving, heading upstairs to the social areas, where they hoped to get out through the palace's front doors and make their way to the city gates. Of course, they had no idea what the situation was like at street level. They just had to pray that the lava hadn't reached the streets yet, or else it would all be over...

Meanwhile, outside on the main street, although the panic had subsided somewhat after the initial quake had passed, things were not looking good. The soldiers had finally managed to restore some order and were leading groups of bewildered and frightened civilians, many laden down with as many of their belongings as they could carry, to the city gates, evacuating the city. Looters and gangs were already on the move, scouring for easy pickings in abandoned homes and attacking anyone who stood in their way.

After leaving his companions to escort the escapees out through the secret tunnel, instead of doubling back, Baffor had joined the rest of the soldiers on the street, issuing emergency orders to evacuate the city immediately, and sending men to check every home and every shop for anyone who might be trapped or had been overlooked. In the confusion, no one questioned his mysterious reappearance when he was supposed to have been lost in the line of duty.

He had just finished checking yet another row of houses, when he heard a commotion from a nearby winery. Through the open door of the shop, which had been broken in, he noticed a couple of thuggish-looking Rats pinning the owner to the floor, frisking him clean. Several of the wine barrels had been smashed open, spilling their contents all over the floor. In the back of the shop, a mouse woman was screaming for help, clutching a crying infant, while a third thud with a knife moved in on her making kissing-faces at her.

Barging into the shop, Taser in hand, Baffor fell upon the looters. The one pinning the shopkeeper to the floor got the Taser to the side of the neck and went down with a groan. The other two, noticing this unwelcome military officer interrupting their party, moved menacingly in on Baffor, who didn't even flinch.

"You scum!" he roared furiously, "Don't you know thuggery and looting are capital offences by order of the King?"

"The 'King' is no longer king," smirked one of the thugs, his breath and his clothes reeking strongly of wine, which he and his associates had been indulging in. "His beautiful city's finished, which means we are now free to do whatever we want! So sod off, soldier boy, before you do something you regret!" But Baffor wasn't the type to cower at cheap threats uttered by some drunken street thug.

"Step aside and let that family go, and maybe I'll let you walk out of here."

The thugs sneered, "It's finders keepers for everyone and everything around here now. You're not spoiling our fun. Besides, why would a Rat soldier care about some lowly Mice, who won't even be missed?" Both thugs laughed, muttering about Mouse-lovers.

An enraged Baffor fell upon them. Pinning the larger of the two thugs against the wall, he struggled to jab the Taser into the bastard's neck and put his lights out too, while the latter struggled with Baffor's wrist, trying to knock the Taser out of his hand. Over his shoulder, Baffor saw the shopkeeper and his family flee out the door and disappear down the street. They were safe. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about the other thug.

Seeing his partner attacked, the third Rat grabbed his knife and plunged it into Baffor's turned back, direct over his heart. Baffor's eyes went wide as the deathblow hit him and he sunk to the floor, rigid as a board. He was dead. The pair smirked down at their victim's corpse.

"Except a promotion for bravery to go with this, captain?" smirked the thug leader mockingly, splashing Baffor's lifeless face with a half-empty tankard of wine he'd been drinking from and pushing the body with the tip of his boot back out the door and onto the street. The pair then turned back to their drinking and looting. At that moment, another quake struck.

A large chunk of rock broke loose from the cavern room right above the street. It came crashing down, right atop the winery, instantly levelling it and turning all three thugs into unrecognisable masses of flesh and bone. None of them ever knew what hit them.

All around the city, chasms began to open up, red-hot magma belching up from their depths. Those who hadn't evacuated the city in time suddenly found themselves falling into rivers of magma, their bodies instantly vaporizing on contact from all that heat.

Outside the city, the surrounding landscape was being overrun by rivers of lava flowing down the side of the mountain. Volcanic ash fell like a blizzard, turning the sky dark, amidst falling rocks and projectiles. High above the city, the volcano, now live and spewing torrents of lava and smoke from its depths, was only minutes away from the final eruption...

Inside the now deserted palace, the remainder of Josh's group had finally made their way upstairs into the palace's main hallway. This was where Josh and his friends had first entered the palace under guard escort back on Sol 13, hoping to appeal to Nicodemus for help in rescuing Elizabeth's children. That now seemed like a lifetime ago.

Running past overturned furniture, fallen rubble, as well as several bodies of members of the royal staff who had been killed by falling debris or perhaps trampled to death by the mob trying to escape in a panic during the earthquake, they reached the front doors. But, running out onto the palace's front steps, what did they find?

The entire city below them was on fire. Most of the streets were now rivers of molten lava. The rapidly intensifying quakes were causing more debris to fall from the cavern roof, further adding to the devastation. On rooftops, Josh and his group could see people who hadn't managed to get out in time, trapped. They watched in horror as the weight and heat of the lava caused the buildings to collapse, sweeping them into the magma, to their deaths. Rosebush City was dying. There was no way out. They were trapped.

Realising it was only a matter of minutes before the rising lava consumed the palace too, Josh shut the doors. Turning to his group, he cried, "This whole damn place is soon going to be buried under the lava! We have to get to higher ground!"

"But we'll be trapped!" cried Tanya, looking absolutely terrified. She realised, even if they could make it to the top of the rock that housed the city, there would be nowhere to run. And there was nobody coming to save them. They'd only be stuck up there, waiting for the eruption to get them.

Josh grew desperate. He had led them into this death trap and now he was going to end up taking them all with him to the death, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. There was no way out of the city, all the exits having been blocked by the lava, save for magically sprouting wings and flying out of here... Or was there? Suddenly, he remembered.

The Jeremy! Josh could have kicked himself for not remembering sooner. The homemade glider he and his friends had built to reach Thorn Valley was still here, currently moored up on the helipad where his pod used to be. Although not as good or as reliable as his pod, Josh was positive she could fly through the ash cloud...assuming they got to it in time. His hopes renewed, he turned to his companions.

"Up to the helipad! We've got one last ticket to fly out of here! Come on, move it!"

The hurriedly made their way up half-collapsed staircases, along semi-caved-in corridors and through ruinous rooms, heading for the uppermost storeys of the palace. Below them, they could hear the rumbling sounds of walls collapsing from the magma forcing its way in. Time was running out fast.

Passing outside Nicodemus' study, Josh called a halt. Without bothering to explain to the others, he dashed into the study. The room was a wreck, all of Nicodemus' prized possessions lying smashed all over the floor and a large pile of ashes on the hearth testified to the burning of many books and papers. No doubt Jenner had wanted all of his uncle's work destroyed, so that no one would ever know the truth about the Rats' true origins.

Hurrying over to the crack in the wall, now clearly visible because of the curtain usually concealing it lying torn on the floor, he made his way down to the secret room where Nicodemus used to hide the pieces of the Stone and other sensitive evidence of his people's origins, which many of his fellow Rats considered taboo, or, in Jenner's case, sought to take advantage of for their own gain. To Josh's utmost dismay, not even that room had escaped Jenner's purge.

It was as if an army of hooligans had been through the place. Almost every item on display had been knocked down and smashed to pieces. All of the computer equipment from the REMO Josh had set up were reduced to piles of twisted metal and wires, and shattered plastic. Shards of broken glass from ruined screens littered the floor everywhere. At first glance, it didn't seem likely what he was looking for would still be here, intact.

With only seconds to spare, he began pawing through the debris. The dimness of the room made it difficult to find anything in all that mess, save for a few cuts from broken glass. He was about to give up, when suddenly he saw it: protruding from under an overturned table was the ELF relay transmitter from his pod's survival kit. One of its tripod legs was bent and the housing had an ugly dent in the side, but it looked like it would still work. Bingo!

Scooping it up into his arms, he was ready to make his leave, when he happened to glance at the only still-functioning computer lying open on the floor. The keyboard was smashed, but the data uplink was still online, satellite readouts coming back on its rippling screen. Glancing at the graph showing the readouts from the seismometers up on the mountain, he saw all the readings were off the scale: seismic activity, gas emissions, temperature, everything was in the red. One by one, all the seismometers and sensors were going off-line in a cascading domino effect as the lava got them. The timer counting down the estimated remaining time to the eruption was at zero. Josh paled.

Wait, you bastard, just two more minutes. Giving the ominous graph on the screen a tap, he hurried out of the study, rejoining his companions in the hallway, the ELF tucked under his arm, "Okay, we're out of here! Move your arses!"

"What do we need that for?" asked Tanya, looking at the transmitter Josh was carrying.

"Eyes," said Josh without stopping, "We won't be able to navigate through that ash cloud visually; but maybe we can by using satellite radar imaging." Tanya hadn't the foggiest what her friend was talking about.

They reached the balcony that served as a helipad. To their utmost relief, the glider was still there and undamaged, anchored to the balcony floor by mooring lines. Outside, the thick ash cloud had turned day to night, making any flying without instruments impossible. The glows of falling projectiles from the volcano lit up the sky. Below, at the foot of the rock housing the city was a sea of lava that stretched for miles in every direction. Above them, they could see the roaring capsule of the reawakened volcano, ready to unleash its final big show at any second. Definitely not ideal flying conditions, but they had no choice if they wanted to live.

Josh picked up the ELF and powered it up. The device opened up like a flower, its antenna cluster automatically scanning the air for any signals. Although the HHC in Josh's other hand confirmed a good connection with the transmitter, it wasn't picking up anything from the overhead satellites. Perhaps the ash cloud was too thick for the radar to penetrate?

Come on, baby, come on... Yes! At last, an image of the surrounding terrain came back on his HHC in false colour. A small red circle marked with a cross marked his position. The satellite radar, designed to penetrate even through the atmosphere of Venus, had done its job beautifully. Now they had the means of navigating through all that muck, so they could clear the sea of lava before gravity forced the glider back down.

Tying the ELF to the glider, right in front of the pilot's seat, to continue receiving navigational data, alongside his HHC, Josh helped his passengers aboard and strapped them in tight. Justin and Isabella took the seats on the starboard wing, with the former holding onto the unconscious princess; Brutus took the seat behind Josh's; Tony Toponi, Tanya and Bernard were allocated to the seats on the port wing.

Sullivan had just finished helping Justin strap Isabella in and was about to climb on himself, when suddenly another earthquake struck. The balcony, already damaged from the previous quakes, could take no more punishment. Suddenly, a large chunk of the balcony broke away, falling into the magma far below. With no more floor beneath it to hold it up, the glider also went plummeting over the edge of the precipice – only to stop partway down, the last of the mooring lines Josh had forgot to uncouple keeping it hanging on end by the tail, suspended in the air.

Sullivan, who had managed to back away in the nick of time, stared over the edge of the collapsed balcony at the hanging glider. Fortunately, Josh and the others had already been strapped in, saving them from being swept off and falling to their deaths. But the glider was now completely immobilised, unable to take flight. Meanwhile, the eruption was only seconds away. Realizing what had to be done, Sullivan drew his dagger. Below, the others, realising what he was doing, gasped.

"No, Sullivan! Don't do it!" cried Justin, "If you cut us loose, you won't have enough time to get on. You'll be left behind!"

"There is no other choice," said Sullivan sadly, the expression on his face that of a person who knew he was about to die, but was determined to do so with dignity, "It's either me, or we all die! You can still escape." He placed the dagger on the mooring line and began to cut it.

"Don't do it!" called Josh, trying to undo his harness, "I'll climb up to you and we can pull the glider back up. We're not leaving you behind too...!" But Sullivan's mind was made up.

"It's my last chance to atone for my actions," he said, "I helped that traitor Jenner kill Nicodemus, condemning the whole kingdom to tyranny and suffering, but at least now I can help save his legacy. They need you to fulfil Nicodemus' plan. Get these people to safety, Captain Anderson!" Before anyone could protest again, Sullivan cut the line. As he did, the volcano finally erupted.

It was as if a nuclear bomb had gone off. The top of the mountain went up in a gigantic explosion of smoke, ash and molten magma. The explosion reached high up into the atmosphere. At the same time, a massive pyroclastic cloud spread from the crater. Solid as rock and with the force of a mega tsunami, that moving cloud of death came sweeping down the mountainside at nearly the speed of sound, heading straight towards the doomed city.

Josh grasped the controls as the glider went into a nosedive, heading straight towards the lava at the foot of the rock. His companions all screamed in unison as they fell, thinking this was surely the end. But Josh already had it all well in hand. Using the momentum of the fall to gather speed, he slowly pulled back on the stick, levelling out the glider before she could plunge nose-first into the lava. Finding his optimum forward speed for his glide path and following the map on his HHC, he set a course for the edge of the plains five miles away, using the transponder signal from the Rover as a beacon. No time to think of Sullivan, left stranded behind them, all alone, waiting out his last few seconds alive...

Sullivan watched with relief as the glider levelled out and took flight. Anderson had done it! The princess had been safely evacuated. At last, he had done his duty, regained his honour, which he had previously thrown away. A sense of euphoria swept over him, making him feel free and content. After a lifetime of cowardice, he had finally found his courage and done the right thing. The shame Jenner had branded him with by using him through threats and manipulation had finally lifted from his heart. At long last, he was free of it! And that was good enough for him. He closed his eyes, muttering a prayer of thanks to the Great Owl...

The pyroclastic cloud came sweeping down upon the city. Everything still standing that was caught in its path was instantly pulverized: forests, farms, buildings, everything. There was absolutely nothing strong enough to withstand such catastrophic force. In the blink of an eye, the cloud engulfed the rock housing the palace and the city beneath it, obliterating it, along with Sullivan.

Rosebush City was gone, destroyed. Whatever remained now lay buried under the slowly solidifying lava, waiting to be eventually rediscovered sometime in the future. Somewhere under there also lay the body of Nicodemus, sealed inside his stone tomb alongside his Queen, both finally at peace.

Josh had to use every ounce of flying skill he possessed to keep the flimsy glider from falling out of the sky. Volcanic ash and falling rocks rained down all around them, forcing him to use every fighter manoeuvre he knew how to dodge them. One mistake and the glider would stall, and they would all meet with a horrible death in the lava below. Nervously consulting his HHC, he saw they were less than a mile to the edge of the lava plains.

Come on, baby, just a little more...

Looking over his shoulder, he saw the pyroclastic cloud gaining in on them. Although gradually dissipating as it spread further, it still had enough force to knock the glider clean out of the sky and it was way too fast for an unpowered glider to outrun. Tanya began to panic.

"Faster, Josh! Please, fly faster!"

But Josh knew it was no use. There was no way they could outrun that thing. What they needed was something big and solid to shield them from it... Consulting his HHC again, he saw they were flying close to a ridge on the edge of the lava plains. That just might do it.

The pyroclastic cloud was only seconds away from hitting them. According to the HHC, the ridge was somewhere dead ahead, yet Josh couldn't see a thing through the ash cloud. If he misjudged the height, he could end up slamming them into it head-on. Suddenly, the side of the ridge loomed into view through the ash like a ghost materialising out of thin air.

Josh pulled back on the stick, taking the glider over the top of the ridge, before sending it into a steep nose-dive towards the relatively sheltered opposite side. He almost made it; the cloud came sweeping over the top of the ridge full force, striking the glider's exposed tail and blasting it apart.

The crippled glider went into a violent spin, no longer controllable, as it fell back to earth. Although the looming ridge shielded it from being obliterated by the force of the cloud, there was no chance of recovery. Its screaming passengers only had a second to brace before the glider smashed into the ground...

Over by the lake where Josh's party had left their Rover, which was now a lake of acid from volcanic activity, the exhausted survivors of Rosebush City had regrouped, still in shock from the destruction of their home.

Ordinary civilians, guards, palace staff, aristocrats, Council Rats, liberated prisoners, even peasants from surrounding villages that had also been destroyed, had all been left homeless. Families, many with missing loved ones, huddled together, seeking comfort in each other's company. Only a few of them had managed to save any of their belongings before being evacuated. Many of the women were sobbing, lamenting the deaths of their loved ones who hadn't made it out. A few surviving guards, now acting on their initiative with no surviving officers to give them orders, tried to offer whatever help they could and to preserve order.

In the distance, the sea of lava where Rosebush City had been was still ablaze. The looming volcano above it, although quieter now that the eruption had passed, was still belching smoke and lava. All the surrounding vegetation was dead. Many of the survivors were injured, some severely. The entire region had been rendered completely uninhabitable, further adding to the survivors' despair. Without food, water and shelter, they'd soon starve.

In spite of their grief and despair, whispers were circulating all around. Who had given the word to evacuate the city, saving many lives? They all knew it wasn't Jenner, who, to their utmost outrage, had ignored all warnings until the damage was done and then abandoned them. Even the guards which Baffor had ordered to evacuate everyone and spread the order to all the other guards to do the same were completely clueless.

As they watched, the Rats suddenly saw a bedraggled group limp out of the ash cloud. The Rats stared in amazement as they recognised among them the human Josh Anderson, the late King Nicodemus's Quaestor, whom Jenner had declared a wanted traitor and assassin who supposedly sought to destroy them all... What was he doing here? In an instant, it all clicked together: it was he who had given the timely warning. The Nimh human, whom many believed to be dangerous and untrustworthy, had in fact come to their rescue.

Josh and his group limped over to join the rest of the survivors of Rosebush City, removing the strips of parachute silk torn from the glider's fuselage they had wrapped around their faces so they could breathe through the ash cloud. Beside him, Justin dutifully still carried the unconscious Isabella; Tanya helped her father along, who was cradling an injured arm in a sling; Brutus, despite sporting several minor injuries of his own, walked confidently with his head held high, carrying the laser-gun that had served him well in today's battle over his shoulder. Only Tony Toponi walked slightly apart from the others, silently mourning the loss of Bridget. All of them were exhausted, battered and covered in volcanic ash, but otherwise unharmed.

They had crash-landed on the edge of the lava plains, totalling the glider, but luckily without anybody suffering any major injury. Quickly untangling themselves from the wreckage, they had taken shelter in an alcove at the foot of the ridge until the pyroclastic cloud had dissipated and then made their way out on foot.

As they approached, several of the prisoners they had liberated from the palace prison hurried over to meet them. Josh felt overwhelmed by all these Rats and Mice applauding and cheering at him and his companions. Several of them, he noticed, were keeping their distance, still uncertain whether he was a friend or enemy, or perhaps from the guilt from believing Jenner's lies and with whom they certainly didn't want to be associated with anymore.

Justin, the highest-ranking surviving officer among the Rats, immediately took charge and ordered a headcount and an assessment of all injuries and missing persons. Despite many deaths and injuries, nearly three-quarters of the population of Rosebush City had been safely evacuated. But there were many injured, some critically, who needed urgent attention. Among the survivors were also several children who had lost their parents in the panic. Meanwhile, all these people needed a new home. It was time for Nicodemus' exodus plan to commence in earnest.

Josh and the others pitched in, helping to patch up the injured with any improvised means at their disposal. Josh tried to ignore the many eyes watching him intently. He knew that they were all looking at him for guidance, what to do, where to go, now that they had become his responsibility. But first, he had to let the others back in Thorn Valley, who must have seen the volcano erupt by satellite, know that they were all right.

Leaving Tanya to finish tending to an injured child, he got onto his radio, hailing Thorn Valley. He heard the children's excited voices on the other end.

"Josh, you're still there!" came Martin's voice, cheering like a mad mouse, "We thought you were cooked!"

"Somehow, I don't think I would have made a very tasty meatloaf," answered Josh good-naturedly. He could hear the children killing themselves laughing on the other end at the joke. "Is your mother there?"

"Josh! Thank the Great Owl, you're all right!" came Elisabeth's voice, crying with relief to hear his voice, yet Josh could tell she was also angry, "We saw the volcano erupt early and thought you'd been caught up in it! You scared the life out of me! Are you hurt?"

"Everything's just fine, darling," said Josh, trying to reassure her, "There's no way I would have abandoned you. I'm sorry I gave you such a scare. I'll make it up to you when I get back, love, I promise." He was glad Elizabeth's voice softened somewhat.

"What about Justin?"

"He's fine, we got him and Isabella out," said Josh, "Listen, Biff, we're bringing in a rather large group of refugees from the city. It looks like our little colony will be getting a little bigger soon. I need you and Emily to start making the necessary preparations to receive the injured and the children."

"We'll make sure everything is ready here when you return," said Elisabeth, "All our new neighbours will receive everything they need in the form of hospitality." One of the many good things about Elisabeth was that she was the soul of hospitality, thought Josh. There was no doubt all the refugees would receive a warm welcome in Thorn Valley. Bidding her goodbye, he took Justin, who had just finished loading Isabella onto a stretcher so they could transport her to Thorn Valley in the Rover, aside for a talk.

"What's the status?"

"Many heavy injuries, but I think they can make it to Thorn Valley," said Justin, "I've already assigned several female members of the palace staff to take over the care of the orphans, while the guards will handle the transportation of the injured. I wish Arthur were still here; he knew how to manage a whole staff better than me." Josh lowered his head sadly; he had already heard of the royal butler's execution at the hands of Jenner.

"What about Baffor?"

"He didn't make it," said Justin sadly, "Witnesses say he was killed trying to diffuse a looting situation." He gestured at the winery owner and his family which he had just spoken to sitting nearby, looking devastated at the loss of their home and livelihood, but relieved to be alive. Josh sighed, thinking of all those who had died today; Bridget, Sullivan, Baffor and God-knows how many others still unaccounted for. It would take all these broken families a long time to get their lives back together. The only comforting thought was that at least, all these survivors were now free of Jenner's tyrannical rule.

"And Jenner?"

"We couldn't find him among the survivors," said Justin, shaking his head, "Nor are there any witnesses who saw him, besides us. Most likely he didn't make it."

"So much the better for everyone concerned," said Josh darkly. After everything Jenner had done, he'd be surprised if anybody shed a single tear for him. Justin nodded solemnly.

"Josh," he said, giving the human a friendly pat on the shoulder, "You did great today. If it weren't for you, things would have turned out a whole lot worse. Nicodemus would have been proud."

"Thanks, but I couldn't have done it alone," said Josh, feeling touched, "All of you did your part." Justin smiled.

"Speaking of which," said Justin, gesturing at the crowd still watching Josh vigilantly, "Aren't you going to say anything to them?" Josh sighed; he'd always hated making public speeches. Guess it's unavoidable, he thought, so he might as well get it over with.

Leaving Justin to watch over Isabella, who was being cared for by some of the other Rats, Josh cleared his throat, addressing the whole group.

"I realise you've all been through a terrible ordeal and want answers, so I'll do my best to give them," he said, "Jenner lied to you; it was he who murdered Nicodemus to steal the throne and then framed me for it, in an attempt to cover his tracks." There was instant gasping and furious muttering among the spectators as the truth sunk in; all this time, they were being ruled by a traitor, who had them believing that Josh Anderson was the assassin, simply because he was a human and not a Rat.

"But, I'm afraid, there is more to it than that," continued Josh. Now was the right time, he figured, to break the secrecy. After tonight, these people ought to learn about the Plan and Nicodemus' role in it. He pulled out the Rosetta Stone from his backpack and showed it to the bewildered crowd. He heard several Rats gasp in amazement, as they realized what it was.

"This is the Stone of All Knowledge, formerly known as the Rosetta Disk," he said, "To dispel any rumours, it was brought to this planet by my crew thousands of years ago. Yes, by humans," he added, noticing the stunned expressions of many. "It hasn't got any magical powers as your legends claim; it's simply a collection of the sum of all mankind's knowledge, edged in stone. Nicodemus, who had worked out the truth, sought to harness all that lost knowledge in order to create a better tomorrow for all of you. That was why, when I came, he enlisted my help in tracking down the missing pieces and making the Stone whole again. Unfortunately, there were also those who sought to harness the secrets of the Stone for their own dark ends." Further muttering was heard, as everyone made the connection.

"Jenner wanted the Stone in order to satisfy his greed and his lust for power, and was determined to go at any lengths to get it, including killing his own uncle," explained Josh, "He also sought to bury the truth about your true beginnings and silence anyone who knew, simply because it threatened his grasp on power. And, I'm glad to say, he failed miserably." There were wild cheers and applause at the news.

"When my companions and I were forced to go into hiding, we dutifully continued Nicodemus' work that he'd left for us, doing everything within our power to protect it. Now, the time has come for me to pass on to you the results of all that work." He held up the Stone for all of them to see. "This and Thorn Valley is Nicodemus' legacy to you. The birthplace of your earliest ancestors can now be the place where Rats, Mice, and humans too, together, can make a new beginning!"

The crowd cheered enthusiastically, Josh's speech having renewed their hopes. One minute, they were left homeless, doomed to starve in the wilderness, but now, it was almost as if Nicodemus himself had thrown them a lifeline from beyond the grave, giving them a chance to rebuild. Now they all finally understood their late King's reason for choosing to trust Captain Josh Anderson.

Elsewhere, in a secluded army camp high in the mountains, Jenner lay recuperating in the commander's tent. Unbeknownst to anyone, some of the palace guards had managed to rescue him in time from his bedchamber, maimed and injured but still alive, and, in the confusion, smuggled him out of the collapsing city. Bringing him to the safety of the camp, where the best and most loyal of soldier Rats did their military training, and where nobody who might be seeking revenge for Nicodemus would find him, they had treated his injury.

Although not even the opioids the camp physicians had given him were of little help in fighting the pain of his injury, Jenner didn't care. His future was ruined; the physicians had already informed him that his private parts were beyond saving and that he would never be able to father any children. And he couldn't see much of a future as a king who couldn't have heirs. His bloodline would simply end with his death. But, before that happened, Jenner was determined to exact revenge.

That insufferable human Anderson had taken everything from him; his city, his throne, the Stone and now even his dignity. But Jenner was not born to be a good loser. He knew the human, who had condemned him to this indignity for the rest of his life, was stationed over at Thorn Valley. Once he was recovered enough to go to battle, he decided, he would destroy that place and everyone in it. Before death claimed him, he swore, he would see to it that not a single memory of good humans remained on this planet. He would kill Anderson and every last one of his friends, and destroy every shred of evidence that showed humans in a positive light in any way. If anyone ever remembered humans, all they would know would be that of a foul race of weakling creatures, which the superior Rats triumphed over in a glorious final battle. His glorious name would be forever revered, whilst Nicodemus' Plan would never see the light of day!

Author's note: This is unquestionably the longest chapter I have written so far. At first, I was going to halve it as two chapters, but didn't want to leave it on an unresolved cliffhanger again. Coming up, the final battle at Thorn Valley! Enjoy and please review!