Sewer Rats
"Trollbunden."
The word echoes around Matthias' scull and his heart is beating like mad in his chest. Lukas is close and he cannot resist peeking around the corner for himself, leaning around the Rat King who grunts in annoyance at him.
The Rat King points op towards the top of the wall. "You see the short guy with the leather armor?" he asks in a low hiss, spitting the words out as if they taste foul on his tongue. "All the normal guards wear heavy plate, but this guy never wear anything heavier than chainmail, makes him easy to spot amongst the rest of them. That is the king's main commander, known as Trollbunden." The Rat King hisses a few quiet curses. "Last I heard he was out fighting rebels, but he must have returned recently. Have you heard the rumors about him?"
Matthias' hand automatically goes to his scarred chest to relieve a phantom itch. "Heard the rumors, met him in combat, almost died by his magic, I am very familiar." The words are thick and clumsy leaving his mouth, the memory of that one particular battle flashing through his mind until he forces them back so he can take in what is happening on the wall.
It really is Lukas, and he is walking swiftly along the top of the wall, determined and confident and it makes Matthias' chest ache. He looks all right from this distance. His steps are sure, there is no visible bruising, and Matthias is relieved for all of two seconds until dread sets in as he sees the cold, empty expression on his face and how most of the plate-clad soldiers on the wall moves out of his way as if his presence alone might be dangerous.
Another hiss from the Rat King pulls his attention again. "If you have truly faced him in combat, then you should know to stay far away," he snarls and pulls back further into cover of the building. Matthias is surprised the Rat King is too busy hiding and does not seem interested in prying more information from them about their previous encounter with the legendary commander.
"Why are you so afraid of him?" Matthias asks, and he cannot hold back a bit of mocking in his tone, happy to see the Rat King uncomfortable in a situation. "If the guards don't care about Mud Town and think they have you under control, why would he cause you any problems?" He gestures towards the wall.
"I'm not afraid," The Rat King retorts with and affronted snarl and smacks Matthias' hand down, out of the way. "He might not actively hunt down me and my rats, but it sure feels like he is. You never know what he might do. One day he is patrolling the walls, the next he might take a stroll through Mud Town and take in the people he knows has been into the city to have them executed in the square. He just seems to know who is guilty just by looking at you, and you can be damned sure I don't want him to look to me."
Atop the wall, Lukas stops his march. The Rat King curses against and throws himself fully flat against the wall, out of sight. Matthias inches back as well, but he cannot resist peeking around the corner. Lukas is motionless where he stands, but he is staring right in their direction and Matthias can practically feel the gaze tear right through him. The world seems to stand still as Lukas tilts his head thoughtfully. Lukas must know he is here; he never had any problems keeping track of Matthias before.
Gods it is strange to see him among the enemy, Matthias has gotten so used to seeing him alone now and has an increasingly hard time placing him in the same category as the King's soldiers.
A deep part of him wants to step out there in the open so he can get closer, so Lukas will know he is there, so they can see each other face to face and he can make sure for himself that he is truly all right. He knows it is a bad idea, but his body aches with the need to do exactly that. He fights that thought down. This is not the time or place; he must find Lukas when he is on his own and he needs to find out if the blue marks have grown with new commands from the king.
Then Lukas moves again and so does time again. Matthias lets out a breath he did not know he was holding, and he steps out from the shadows of the building so he can watch the group of soldiers make their way along the wall towards the front gate. Gods, does he want to follow them.
"Now let us get out of here," the rat king snarls angrily, and Matthias finally manages to tear back his attention. "I have lost my patience for today. We will return to the nest; we will wait for your friends and finish our business for the time being. He turns on his heel and his ragged cloak flaps just as angrily behind him as he marches through the mud towards the bandit hideout, not uttering a single word.
Back at the base, he tells them to return to their room. "You should rest while you can. You have a long night ahead of you, and within the city, proper rest will be hard to find." Then he stalks to his makeshift throne at the end of the table and snarls at anyone that tries speaking to him.
Matthias and Vilje return to their room, eager to get away from the Rat King in his current mood, but they cannot sleep. They are too anxious, snapping to attention at the slightest of sound. They wait until finally the sun goes down and the room turns dark, and they head back to the main room and stand by a wall as far away from the Rat King as they can get, watching as he sometimes whispers, and other times spits out orders to his men.
A few hours after sundown, a rat enters the building and rushes over to the Rat King only to whisper something in his ear. Matthias fears for a few seconds that something is wrong, but then the Rat King nods to the messenger and then look towards them and gestures for them. The door opens before they have time to move very far and relief crashes through Matthias as Berwald and Tino step over the threshold. Gods know he is more than ready to get out of this hovel and away from these people.
Another rat steps in besides them and bows lightly for the king. "The horses are outside as agreed upon," he says in a low raspy voice.
Matthias can notice a bit of excitement spread throughout the room as the rats whisper amongst each other, he can even notice a few licking their lips hungrily while staring intently towards the door. He doubts the animals will live for much longer after they leave and feels a bit guilty as he realizes Tino's eyes are red -rimmed and his jaws firmly set in e grim line.
Well," the Rat king declares in a forced tone as he stands up from his throne, his earlier anger has still not abated and there is a deep growl in his voice. "It seems you help up you part of the deal; I guess it is only fair I hold up mine. I would not want my reputation to be tarnished. Would we boys?" He yells to the last sentence for all to hear and they cheer loudly, some stomping their feet on the ground to increase the noise. "Tonight, we will teach these outskirters the ways of the rat!" He spins around on the spot and throws out his arms as if he is announcing a great performance is about to take place, then he walks up to Matthias and throws and arm around his shoulders, digging fingers into the meat of his shoulder so it is impossible to shrug off easily. "You better prepare yourselves," he says cruelly. "It is not a pleasant experience."
"Bring it on," Matthias retorts just as annoyed and tears the hand off his shoulder, ignoring how disrespectful it looks in front of the Rat court.
The Rat king just smiles unpleasantly at them. "You are going to need some different bags for your journey." One of the thugs steps up almost immediately as if he was waiting for the exact comment with a few leather bags in his hands. They look a lot like water skins, only larger. The Rat King takes them from him and hands them out. "These are for the most part waterproof, should keep most of your belongings dry. Consider them a gift," he says it in an unpleasantly sweet tone and Matthias does not believe it is genuine for even a second.
The Rat King then makes a shooing motion towards them. "Now I would have you leave, I have grown tired of your presence and I have other things to attend to. Follow my men and they will show you the way."
Three of the rats move towards the door, each of them carrying a leather bag similar to the one they just received. The group cast a few uncertain glances amongst each other, but one annoyed glance from the Rat King is enough to send them going.
They follow the rats outside into the chill of the night air, not that the hovel was much warmer, but at least it gave shelter from the wind. The bandits gives them a few minutes to move over their things into the new bags before they throw their hoods on and crouch down to creep along the house walls almost vanishing in the shadows. The group does their best to follow their lead, but their steps are loud and clumsy in comparison. Occasionally one the men leading them will turn back and hiss at them for making too much noise and stop to glance up at the wall where the occasional flicker of torchlight signals a guard walking past before moving on.
Eventually they make it to the last line of houses before they reach the riverbank. The group stops and the bandits looks up towards the wall again to check for guards. The large fire on the wall above the water gate lights is strong enough to make the water sparkle and Matthias can spot the occasional guard peeking over the wall above the waters. However, they only throw a quick glance down before they move on, which is no strange considering there is nothing special to see and it is likely there never is. The rest of the wall lights up when a guard walks by with their torches, but they do not really bother looking down, they must consider it all routine and do not expect anything to happen. Matthias realizes he did not have to assume the guards would be very good at their job, they are all bored out of their minds not thinking somebody will ever be stupid enough to attempt breaking in on their own.
They stand there by the last line of the houses and the rats take of their leather bags and starts stripping. Vilje does not quite succeed in stopping a startled sound from leaving her mouth. The rats look at them expectantly, then one of them whispers and there is a mocking glint in his beady eyes as he smirks at them. "If you want to move around the capitol in the middle of night in early winter with wet clothes it is your choice, but I would not recommend it, But the choice is yours sweetheart."
"Don't be shy" another taunts quietly, "nothing we haven't seen before. Besides, it is dark, can't see that much to begin with, real shame that is."
"Leave her alone," Matthias hisses back at them and steps in front of Vilje to shield her a bit from their gazes. "Focus on your task." He then forces himself to take his thick cloak and shirt off as if he does not care about their stares, hoping they might lose interest in teasing them. He is a little bit self-conscious about his scars, but it is dark enough that nobody can properly see the blush creeping down his chest. He gives them a firm glare and kicks off his shoes probably a bit more violently than needed and moves to take off his pants as well. "Are you going to keep staring?" he challenges in a quiet hiss.
They laugh cruelly, but return to their task at hand taking their focus of the group as they stuff their clothing in their backs and tie them off closely. There is always one of them looking up towards the wall. Whenever a guard stops to look over the wall, they whistle quietly and slink into the nearest shadows until the coast is clear again.
The group uncertainly strip down to their smallclothes and pack their clothes in the leather bags. It goes against every instinct to strip out in the open and leave them without even the slightest protection should they be noticed. The rats shake their head disapprovingly at their attention to modesty and strip all the way without hesitation.
When they are all standing there, shivering by the river edge, one of the rats steps into the water, searches around for a bit and pulls up a rope that is covered in algae after prolonged time in the water. "Don't let go of this," he whispers. It is you only guide, and we take no responsibility for your safety should you lose it. We will swim on the surface until we reach the wall, then we dive and follow this rope into the pipe system. It is a few feet down and a few feet in, then on the other side you can swim to the surface, it is air in there. Got it?"
Matthias nods and looks to his other team members; they are already shivering and have their backpacks on again, ready to move. The rats move into the water first, all of them holding on to the rope and quickly begin swimming silently towards the wall.
Matthias steps out into the water and must bite down on his tongue to keep silent when the temperature of the water registers. He immediately starts shivering harder as he steps further into the bitingly cold water and grabs on to the rope. It almost knocks the breath out of him when he immerses himself completely and starts swimming, holding on to the rope with one hand. He gasps for breath as his body fights against the sudden cold.
He hears the splashing of his friends as they follow him, and glance up towards the wall to make sure nobody is looking down at them after the noise, but it still seems quiet, and he keeps going.
He reaches the wall, his teeth chattering violently and his breath puffing out in a white fog before his face. One of the rats is waiting for him by the wall and when Matthias reaches him, he makes a smirk and dives down only to disappear below the murky surface. Matthias treads water as he waits for Tino to catch up with him and then the smell hits him as sewage wells up all around him from a strong current from below.
Matthias waits until Tino reaches him, then he takes a few quick breaths and dives down after the rats. He kicks his feet as hard as he can to gain depth and follows the rope with one hand. He uses the other to feel along the wall and as the rats said, there is a circular opening just a few feet down and he follows the rope inside. His lungs are already screaming for air, his body fighting against the cold, and it is hard forcing himself to keep going forward. He pulls himself along the rope, then pauses to feel up and almost panics when there still is a roof above him. His hand hits something sharp and metallic, the remains of the grates maybe, the one that used to keep the rats out of the city. He forces himself to keep going forward. After three more strong strokes, he tries again. The roof is finally gone, and he swims upwards.
He breaks surface with a gasp, heaving gratefully for the cold air that makes his lungs sting. Then the smell floods his senses and he ends up couching and gagging as his body attempts to purge the foul stench from his system without success. He splashes around, trying to orient himself and figure out where he is. He can hear whispers from the rats somewhere to his side and follows the sound.
An arm grasps him in the darkness, and he lets out a surprised hiss as he tries to pull himself away from the touch. They reward him with laughter then, a dark and cruel one and he just hates the rats a little more than he already did.
There is another splash behind him and Tino breaches the surface sputtering for air.
You people are too damned loud," one of the rats hisses then there is a flicker of light as one of them has managed to light a torch. Matthias can see now that they have heaved themselves up on a small platform just above the water surface. The two that are not busy with the torch, are drying themselves with a rag and pulling clothes out of their bags to put on. They do not at all seem bothered by the cold.
Matthias swims towards the ledge and heaves himself up. The cold air stings his now wet skin, and he immediately breaks out in shivers. Another person breaches the surface and Vilje gasps for air, flailing wildly in the water. One of the rats hands Matthias a rag and he begins wiping the water off his skin, trying not to think too closely about how dirty it must be. They just swam through the sewers after all. It is not as if it can get any worse.
He helps heave Tino out of the water and hands him the rag. The rats seems like they could not care any less about their presence and shows no signs of wanting to help them, so he waits for Vilje to reach the platform and pulls her up as well. Then finally, Berwald breaches the surface as the last person.
Matthias throws on his shirt and pants quickly to protect himself a little from the cold, grateful that the wind cannot reach them in hear at least. He helps Tino to haul Berwald out of the water. Vilje looks thoroughly uncomfortable and turns towards a corner to change. Matthias turns his back to her to give her some privacy and stands in the way to block the view for the rats that are openly staring at her, practically licking their lips. Berwald takes his lead and glares at them, still dripping with sewage water and they suddenly seem to find some respect and other things to turn their focus to, withering under Berwald's glare.
Eventually they all manage to dry off for the most part. They pull on their clothes, swap out their wet underwear to dry ones under disapproving commentary from the rats that could not care less about modesty over practicality.
The platform they stand on connects to a narrow ledge that leads further into the sewers. When the rats manage to light up another torch and they can finally get a better glimpse at their surroundings. Matthias gawks, there is no denying that. The rat king quickly explained what a sewer was, but he never imagined it to be this massive and well constructed. The walls are bricked and vaulted, tall enough even for Berwald to stand upright. The downside is the water flowing past them that absolutely reeks. Their breathing echoes off the walls and they can hear water dripping from the roof along with the rushing of water.
The rats they the lead and follow the narrow ledge further into the sewer. The tunnel narrows a bit, and they must walk crouched over uncomfortably, but it is not long before their guides slow down, and the tunnel widens again. They have reached a new platform at a large cross section. On one of the walls there is a narrow ladder leading up to a grate that blocks the way. They can smell the fresh air, making the stench of the sewer feel a little less overwhelming.
"This is where you get out," one of the rats whispers. "Just push the grate to the side and you are in the commoner district."
"Why not further in?" Matthias hisses back.
"The king told us to take you beyond the wall," another one snarls back. "We have done so, and our job is done. You should be grateful, we could just as easily kill you and dump you in the river; no-one will ever know or even care."
The air grows tense, but after a whole day in company of the Rat King, a vague threat form one of his henchmen is not enough to scare Matthias in the slightest. He places his hand on the axe in his belt as a clear warning. "Your king also made a deal with me that we will help each other. I'll find new ways for you within the city, how do you expect us to do that when you won't even take us as far in as you can. We will waste precious time finding ways you already know."
Matthias immediately knows he has them; they shift uncomfortably on the spot and turn silent before they grumble amongst themselves. "We can bring you as far as the merchant district," one of them growls, clearly unhappy with the additional work and he leads them towards a different ledge and begins walking. "You will have to remember these routes yourselves; we will not follow you to hold your hands the next time you want to use the tunnels."
"Fine," Matthias snaps and lets his hand drop; it is probably the best he can achieve for now.
"Don't these tunnels serve the entire city?" Tino asks uncertainly from further back in the group. "Shouldn't we be able to follow the tunnels all the way in underneath the castle if so?"
The rat snorts. "Well yes, but they have sectioned off the tunnels with grates and underneath the richer districts they actually bother to maintain those properly and they will notice if we break through and destroy any of them. We don't usually bother going to those districts anyways, security is tighter, more likely to be noticed stealing stuff from the rich. There might be an open grate leading to the noble district, but as you see, this place is a maze, and we don't want to be discovered that far in, so we have not really bothered to look. The king might decide then that it is time to eradicate the rats once and for all, and we don't want that."
Matthias heart falls a little at the news. He was hoping they could at least have a way into the guard's district where they could cause some real damage, but access to the three outermost districts still gives them plenty to learn about the city and her function.
The rats lead them further on, Matthias quickly loses track of all the turns they take, he will not be able to find the way back that is for sure. They walk past a few more platforms with ladders leading up to the city streets, but they do not stop for any of them until 20 minutes of walking later.
"This is our best entry into the marked. You end up in an alleyway close to the market, makes it easy to get in, steal some food and get out unseen, by the time the guards make it to the alley we are already gone. From here on moving gets interesting." He grins a yellow grin at them and his eyes flicker in the dim torchlight.
Their movement pattern already contained many turns in different directions, but now the pattern becomes a lot more difficult to follow, and a few times, Matthias is certain they must have walked in a circle. They reach a rusted-through grate where a few of the bars are gone and squeeze through, careful so their clothes do not snag on the rusted metal.
"Do you stay in the city during the day or hide down here?" Matthias says when he is sick of the tense silence, and he has completely lost track of their movements and desperate for any sound that is not the rushing of water or their echoing footsteps.
"We have a few safehouses up top," one rat says hesitantly, obviously not sure he should share the information. "We scratched arrows on different walls to help our people find them. You better not be discovered, it was a lot of work securing those places," he snarls.
They stop approximately half an hour later after winding their way through the tunnels. "This is as far as we go," one of the rats whispers. "This is the merchant district on the eastern side of the city. You are free to explore the tunnels further, but we haven't found any open grates so good luck. There is an arrow to the safe house up there, but you will have to find it yourselves." Then the three of them turn and leave without a further word, not willing to wait long enough for them to make further demands of them, taking the torches with them. The group can barely hear their footsteps as the rats scurry back towards where they came from.
Tino shudders visibly once they are out of sight. "I'm glad to be rid of them," he whispers shrilly, "they are so creepy."
"You have no idea," Vilje adds darkly. "These guys were a true pleasure compared to their king."
Matthias shushes them and then climbs up the ladder. He clings to the grate atop and looks out as much as he can with his face on ground level. The light is dim, but he can make out the houses and slowly lifts the grate and moves it to the side. It screeches loudly in protest and the entire group cringes at the sound. The outside is still quiet, so he keeps going with a grimace and finally the grate is off.
He climbs out, crouching low to the ground and cast a quick glance around. They are in the middle of a cobbled street. On both sides are small front gardens of the fine houses. The gardens are small, but well-kept and the houses are nice, nicer than anything they are used to in the outskirt towns.
He turns back to the grate, "Come on up, the coast is clear."
Tino is the next one up. He immediately ducks down low and brings out his bow at the ready, leaving Matthias to help the other two. The air is sweet after the stench of the sewers, smells clean, fresh dirt from the gardens. "We should get off the streets," Matthias whispers. "Can any of you see the arrows they spoke of?"
They scatter in different directions to look closer at the walls. Tino is the one that finds what they are looking for, he whistles quietly to gain their attention and waive them over to where he points at a barely-there arrow carved low on one of the walls. "That must be it," he whispers, "small and out of sight, you can only find it if you know to even search for it."
They nod in collective agreement and begin moving as quietly as they can in the direction the arrow is leading them.
Streetlights bathe the road in a soft light, leaving few shadows for them to hide. They seem to be a bit away from the wall that is dividing the city into sections and so they feel safe that nobody can see them from above and only leaves the streets to worry about, so they keep an ear out for approaching footsteps instead.
They seem to be lucky for now; the only footsteps they can hear are their own echoing. The arrow leads them down a street, and when they hit an intersection, they find another arrow etched into the wall, close to the ground and next to it is a square. They then see another arrow leading back the way they came, but there is a circle next to that one.
Matthias's lips twitch in a bad attempt at a smile. "They are clever, I'll give them that. The circle must mean entrance to the sewers and the square should be a safe house, if I am to guess."
"I just hope it is close," Vilje whispers nervously and fiddles with her clothes. "The longer we stay out here, the more likely we are to be spotted, and the way we look and smell, they will know for sure that we are not merchants just out on a midnight stroll."
Tino takes up the lead, the one with the sharpest eyes. They hit another intersection, and at this point, they can see one of the walls separating the city districts looming above the houses but disoriented from the time down in the sewers they don't know if it is the marked district or the noble district on the other side.
They head down this street even slower now, nervous to catch the eye of soldiers on the wall, but a few steps down they realize the lighting is missing in this particular street for some reason. There are lampposts on both sides of the road, but the glass is shattered and it seems nobody has bothered to replace them. The shadows are a comforting as it wraps around them as a cloak.
The houses down this street seem a little bit worse maintained, the paint chipping a bit from the walls and the gardens are partially overgrown with weeds. Another arrow points them towards an anonymous looking door towards a back alley and next to the handle is a small cross. There is a board across the door, but upon further inspection, it is loose and they can easily take it off.
The door turns out to be unlocked and they open it slowly, weapons drawn just in case.
Matthias goes first. The air is stale inside and full of dust that makes his throat itch. A thick layer of dust covers the entire floor and only a path of muddy footprints, longs since dried interrupts it. He opens the door a little further, waives for Berwald to come inside, and says to the two others. "We do a quick search first, but I think this is empty." Vilje looks thoroughly unimpressed, but Tino turns towards the street with his bow to stand guard.
They enter the house and find themselves in a long, dark hallway. There are two doors on the left side of the hall, three on the right and one at the very end of the hall. The first room on the left is just full of empty shelves filled with cobwebs and a broken crate of the floor. The next door leads to a kitchen, simply furnished and with a large fireplace in one corner. The first door on the right side is a bedroom, or it used to be at one point, only a broken bedframe remains. The next room has a dirty mattress without a frame, covered in mud; most likely, from the Rat King's men when they used this place last, none of them seemed to care a lot about hygiene. The last door turns out to be a washroom. There is a small grate on the floor in the corner and upon closer inspection they hear water rushing below and the smell wafting up is all to familiar.
The last room at the end of the hall is a living room. The only furniture left is a ratty couch where the cushions are tearing at the seams, a lounging chair with only two legs and a carpet that might have been extravagant and colorful at one point but is only torn and grey now.
"I'll get the others," Matthias says when they finish looking through the rooms and puts the axe down on the broken chair. "This place has not been inhabited by anyone for quite some time I'd say, should be safe enough to stay in."
Berwald nods and drops his bag down on the floor, humming thoughtfully.
The other two are very happy to get inside, Vilje tossed her backpack on the floor with a thud and sighs loudly. "Finally, a place to rest without any of those freaking rats nearby! I hope I never have to see that damned Rat King again!" she snarls out the name and dramatically fakes gagging.
Tino lifts an eyebrow and puts down his own bag a little more carefully, "What happened while we were away?"
Matthias sighs, "I think that is a story for tomorrow, we should get some rest."
"Should we split up into rooms, or?" Tino says hesitantly.
"Hey, I am all for some privacy," Vilje cuts in quickly, "But I saw that one mattress while walking past and I can tell you for sure I don't even want to share a room with that thing, much less sleep on it!"
Matthias cannot help but snort out a laugh; it is good to see some spirit return to his friends. "She's got a point," he says. "We should be safe for now, but we should probably just all sleep here in the living room just in case. For all we know, some of the rats might come here to check up on us, and if they do, I'd prefer it if they have less of an opportunity to separate us."
"Couch is mine!" Vilje yells immediately, "I will fight all of you for it."
Tino looks startled for all of two seconds and then he begins laughing. "You can have it," he says with a smile," I'm just happy to have a roof over my head."
"Then it is decided," she says firmly and plops down on the couch which creaks loudly in protest and sends out a puff of dust in revenge.
Things settle down after that. Vilje curls up on the couch and is asleep within minutes. Berwald and Tino settle down directly on the floor along one of the walls, neither of them willing to touch the carpet. Matthias pushes the lounging chair over to the window so he can peek outside and watch the streets, claiming he will go to sleep in a few minutes once he convinces his body it is safe enough. Berwald and Tino do not call him out on the lie but settle down quietly and it doesn't take long before they are asleep as well, leaving the room in silence beside the soft breathing, occasional snore and the rustling of fabric as someone shifts in their sleep.
It takes a lot more than a few minutes before Matthias manages to convince his mind to calm down enough for sleep to take over even though he is dead tired. It is hard to push back the memory of the Rat King and a small part of him keeps expecting him to show up and torture them further. He finds a position where he can lounge in the chair and still have a decent view of the street outside. On this side of the house, the lights are still intact leaving much more to see. The view is strange, especially after so much time in the wilderness. The tall houses, the cobbled streets, the general lack of nature and its sounds.
He thinks back to earlier in the day and as is so constant these days, his thoughts stray to Lukas. The relief of seeing him alive and seemingly well mixes with a determination to seek him out. If he is patrolling the wall, he might be patrolling the streets as well, it is just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and Lukas seemed to sense him from the wall, judging from the way he was staring in their direction.
Lukas must know the group is within the city by now, and if Lukas is willing, then Matthias will find him. He will certainly not be able to find him by pure luck alone, the city is too big and hard to navigate. A massive yawn interrupts his line of thought before they have the chance to move any further. He will find Lukas; it will just have to wait for one more day. He finally falls asleep, curled up in the battered lounging chair, feeling determined.