The one who could smell through eras gone hated this place with every fiber of his being. It smelled awful. It made its little lungs ache at every intake of air. The fact that he knew that the situation was even worse in the past did not make this any better. How could anyone even begin to think of moving here, or worse, settle? His shadowy brother was less offended by the smell, but he had worse sensitivity of that kind. He was more focused on the fact that the city was still shadowy, even if the sun was already shining. The spotted rat kept looking around, tho, trying to find what was wrong with what he was seeing. His brother answered his silent question for him.

“Where are the rats?”

“And the mice. And the dogs. Why aren’t there any animals around?” Spyce said, weirded out by the emptiness. There were just some people moving in the street, but they were few.

“I can smell them.” stated Thyme, sniffing around, as hard as it was in this city. They are somewhere, probably inside the buildings and the walls, but I don’t… maybe some rat, I can smell some of our kind around, but no other animal one could see in a city. No birds, too. The smells all come from inside.”

“That’s… That is weird.”

“Is it?” Thyme sniffed again, grimacing as he did. “There’s this horrible, tremendous stench around. And that black cloud in the sky isn’t helping. It does not seem like a nice place to live in.”

“Yes, even Cranesworth had better air quality.” Spyce admitted, cleaning himself. “Ugh, I can feel the ashes getting in my fur. I’ll never be clean again until we get out of here.”

“I hope the moment to go away comes fast. Where do you think we should go?”

“You tell me. I’d go in the general direction of the two elders, it would be weird if there wasn’t more than one colony in a city so big.”

“I agree. Let’s just be in their vicinity and I’ll keep my nose up to find some distant cousins.”

They started scuttling in the alleyways near the main street. The smell was still present, but it was slowly getting better, as the cloud in the sky was getting thinner by the second, even if not by that much. They made a quick stop near a produce seller, nibbling some apples, before darting away when the shopkeeper came out. The city was only starting to wake up, so there weren’t many humans around. Thyme smelled a dog three streets away, so they took a slight detour to avoid unpleasant encounters. While the two rats were walking, they heard the sound of small fett on the pavement of the road. A small rat, his fur black as tar, just like his eyes, and weirdly, even his tail, confronted them, showing signs of nervousness. His fur was standing on end, and it seemed like their presence was unwanted.

“Halt! Who are you? What are you doing loitering in the territory of our colony?” he squeaked and started slowly circling them “Are you here for a hostile takeover? Are you enemies?”

“Wo wo wo, wait a second now.” Spyce looked at the rat, and tried to look as neutral as possible, sniffing the air a bit. He smelled like a rat, but he also had the distinct smell of ashes and coal. “We were just sniffing around trying to find someone we could talk to, but the streets were almost all empty.” He shook his head. “No other rat in sight.”

“Didn’t you know? Are you two outsiders?” He seemed even more suspicious of them, now. “There seems to be someone hunting us. Purposefully.”

“Hunting us?” asked Thyme, surprised. There weren’t many animals smart enough to be a real peril for their species, still… “A Suki cat?”

“We don’t have cats in the city outside the houses and the shops. Where are you from? Who are you dumb hillbillies? ”

“Hey, now, let’s not start calling names-”

“You snobbish city rat.” Spyce had disappeared and reappeared right on top of the rat, pinning him on the ground. He squealed, trying to move away, but Spyce’s grip was unyielding. “Where we are from is our business, not yours. We just wanted to get the lay of the land, find other of our kind to ask them some questions, and we didn’t show any disrespect. Unlike you. Now, ask for forgiveness, before I crush your stupid head,”

“Wait brother” squeaked Thyme, looking at the ashen smelling rat, “Let’s all calm down. We’re not here to do any harm. Come on.”

“Ok.” Spyce lifted his paws a bit, allowing the other rat to get out of his pin. “Explain to us why you’re so on edge, and we’ll see how this is going to go.”

The small black rat started cleaning himself, his fur standing less on end. Rivulets of dust seemed to be shifting around on it.

“I just know that a lot of the rats from the shabby district with the biggest metal building are disappearing, and even some from our colony, who’s here in the place of clothes and wood. I don’t know much more, though. This is like, my third time doing sentinel duty. You should talk with Big boss.”

“The boss?” asked Thyme.

“Big Boss” the small rat replied, a look of reverence in his eyes. “He is our oldest, our mightest, and the one who directs the supply runs.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Can you introduce us to him?” said Spyce, still a bit upset, but trying to not behave more aggressively “...please? We came here with a proposal, but hearing your words I believe we may be of more help than we thought.”

The black rat seemed a bit taken aback by the change of pace of this conversation.

“Yes. Sure. You seem pretty good, I don’t know of your brother, but since one of your stature respects him, he can’t be weaker than you. Follow me.”

The small rat seemed to get… sharper, somehow, and bolted toward a half open door. They followed behind him, finding themselves in a big warehouse. It did not seem to be abandoned, and there were actually two humans busy moving boxes of cloth. The air, here, smelled less of coal and more of… nothing at all. They were having some trouble keeping up with him, Thyme especially, but fortunately he stopped in front of a corner, apparently made of black rock.

“We need passage. Open up, please.”

The rock seemed to slowly disappear, as if it wasn’t there at all. A small, slanted passage brought the tree inside an old, unused cellar. Judging by the smells he could detect, this had probably been a brewery or a distillery or something of the like. Alcohol was the main thing he could smell, with coal being a close second, and the rusty smell of blood, a third.

A black rat, with gray lines crisscrossing his fur, appeared from under a overturned box.

“Well well well, what do we have here? What are two wood smelling rats doing in our humble abode?”

“Shut up, Snake eater!” Said the small rat who had brought them here. “This is not the time to act all cocky, you know there are some problems. One of your daughters disappeared, too! Do you care so little for the one you sire?”

“She must have gotten lost in her stuff.” He sniffed around, looking smug. “No daughter of mine would be so weak that she gets caught by whatever’s outside.”

He came nearer, and observed the new arrivals. He seemed relaxed, but had a weird glint in his eyes.

“I don’t like those two. City rats start to disappear and those two show up? Seems too coincidental, don’t you think?” he stated, addressing no one in particular.

“We literally just arrived on a carriage.” said Spyce, visibly annoyed by such suspiciousness. “ We’re looking for something that should be inside the big iron building. We want no problems and we came to parley with your Boss, to ask if he would be able to help us.”

“Big boss” chorused the snake eater and the other rat.

“Yes, Big Boss, yes. We may also be able to help you. And we’ve got friends working with us.” Thyme explained.

“What kind of friends?”

“The tall kind.”

“You work with humans?” squeaked the little black rat, now a bit scared.

“You work with their kind? Are you out of your mind?” added the gray striped rat.

“I mean. Not all of them hate rats, and it seems to me like you live in their shops and their home, what stops you from working with them?”

“This scar does.”

A big, dark green furred, heavyset rat, with a big, nasty scar covering one of his eyes, *barcollò toward them from behind a sack.

“Humans betray, and take, and take, after they’re done playing with you. We just want a place where we can live to the fullest. Is that a sin? I’m trying to build a paradise here, for all the rats who wish to join me. But I’ll suffer no human.”

The rat had his fur standing on end, and looked like he was getting ready to jump on them if they gave him any reason to.

“You wouldn’t have to suffer them.” said Spyce, putting himself between the older rat and his brother. “They’re not your usual sort. They’re very, very weird. Extremely so. And that’s good. One of them is also a child of the trees, and the other treats us as peers. Gives good scritches too.” “He really does!” added Thyme. “Yes. And they told us to make an offer to whoever would take it. if you helped them find something they need, or a way in in the metal tower, they would give you as much food as you wished.”

“Big Boss, we are a bit short on food,” said the small one “with all the disappearance and all…”

“Silence!” squeaked loudly the old rat, turning around. “Let me think for a moment.”

He scuttled away, and disappeared behind a box.

“Where did he go?” asked Thyme, a bit weirded out by the interaction.

“He always does this.” He looked where the Big Boss had gone, “he does not like saying yes, so he has to prepare himself a bit.”

“Stop giving free info to the spies.” interjected the snake eater.

“Hey, we resent that.” squeaked Spyce. We’re not spying. We’re literally here to help, but if you don’t need a paw, we’ll see ourselves out.” he squeaked, outraged. “Bully.”

“I’m not a bully, I just-”

“I have come to a decision”, said the old rat, once again coming from behind the box. “You’ll be happy to give us a hand in finding our lost brothers and sisters, and give us a month or so of provision. In exchange, after the work is done and we’re reunited with our loved ones, we’ll help you in your endeavors. What do you say?”

Spyce was overjoyed.

“I’d say we have-”

“I’d say we have to check the terms with our partners first.” cut in Thyme. “We’ll see you when the small sun is at half his trip, if that works for you. In the meantime, we’ll keep looking to see or smell if something is suspicious. But we think they’ll agree to your terms. Would this be ok?”

“I think so. Yes. You, he who snores like thunder, keep watch on them and accompany them to their… partners.”

“On it, Big Boss”, said the small rat who had accompanied them inside.

“Don’t be late, or the deal’s off. And you little thunder, remember when dealing with humans: a rat will always be a rat.”

“We won’t be,” said Thyme.

“Yes, Big Boss.” replied the little rat.

The silver lined rat puffed up his fur and looked at the two.

“Go, then, don’t overstay your welcome.”

“You don’t have to always have the last word, Snake Eater.” Thunder said.

“I think I do.”

“Whatever. Let’s go. Days are short.”

“Can you find the two elders?” asked Spyce to his brother, while they were getting back to the street they had come from before.

“Yes, they’re not that far from here, but I smell them moving. Let’s hurry.”