N14, The Ratmen

‘Damn! I got outwitted by these ratmen.’

After Number One and I were trapped in the nets a couple of the humanoid creatures approached us and lifted them without much effort. I began struggling and the beast shook me violently until I felt dizzy.

I could see that some of my older goons had remained close in threatening stances, but they didn’t have a chance against these enemies. I wished they would retreat before they were killed. The ratmen didn’t attack them, instead they spread some kind of black powder that made me feel uneasy. My minions also began showing signs of nervousness and took some steps back.

In the end my three numbered subordinates and me had been captured. They had to knock out Number Two because he wouldn’t stop trying to bite them. He was now inside a large bag made of scaly hides sewn together.

I didn’t know what these ratmen wanted from us, but I didn’t intend to find out. I had to discover a way to escape and regroup with my other underlings.

‘But what do I do with my subordinates?’

I didn’t want to leave my most valuable followers here. Who knew what these beast would do to them.

‘I can always rescue them later.’

Should I really try to break free? If I waited I might find a better opportunity to flee with everyone.

‘But what if they plan to eat us once we arrive at our destination?’

I couldn’t help but feel frightened at the thought. No, they had captured us alive, I calmed myself. They couldn’t be thinking of killing us so soon. The best route was to escape by myself and come to save them later.

‘But what happens if I can’t rescue my subordinates?’

I started thinking about many different options and situations. It was good that most of my minions were still safe. The problem was that all my most valuable followers had been captured, even if I broke free by myself I didn’t know what would happen to them.

‘Stop! I must focus on what’s important! I can’t lose all my progress until now!’

I was sorry for my followers. I would try to come rescue them soon, but my first priority was to ensure my own safety. I couldn’t do anything if I died, I needed to run away.

I focused my attention on the net trapping me. It was made of beasts hides, it didn’t look very resistant. I was sure I could easily make a hole to break free.

I started to gnaw at the net quietly. I had to time my break out carefully, the opportunity would come once we passed near a small passage.

“Grath!” While I was waiting for my chance one of the ratmen shouted and pointed in my direction. I had been discovered.

‘Damn!’

I hastened my bites, if I didn’t get free now my odds of fleeing would be zero. As I frantically nibbled at the net another ratman approached and readied a bone club.

…

‘Uh?’

I woke up in a small, unfamiliar, place. Bitten bones and other filth covered the ground around me and unpleasant odors filled the gloomy room. At the sides there were uneven rock walls that closed on each other as they reached the ceiling and behind me the cramped space ended in another irregular wall.

‘The ratmen!’

I remembered what had happened to me and got up in a hurry. I looked around, this place had to be a cell and I was alone inside it.

‘Where are my subordinates?’

I focused on the door, it was rather small. The ratmen that captured us would need to crouch to get inside. It was made of long bones haphazardly tied together with some sinew and hide straps, it seemed quite brittle. Behind it I could see a tall wall made of piled rocks, if it came to it I might be able to climb it with some effort.

The obstacles wouldn’t be a problem, but what about the guards? I was clearly inside a cell of the ratmen, or maybe a pen, I didn’t know which one was better. My first priority was to figure the way to the nearest exit and learn about the guards.

As I approached the door to take a peek outside a big ratman appeared. It was a lot taller than the two I had encountered in the caves a few days ago and it had skinny limbs that made it look like it had gone through a sudden growth spur. The creature inspected the cell for a bit before focusing its penetrating gaze on me.

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I couldn’t suppress a shiver. I was at the mercy of these humanoid beasts. I hadn’t been in such a bad situation since before I began making my gang.

The ratman went away and I tried to calm down. I had to think rationally if I wanted to get out of here safely. What was their purpose in catching us alive? Was it to make sure we wouldn’t spoil too quickly?

‘And why capture only us?’

Did they want to eat us and let the other rats grow? No, there might be another reason. That was too much effort just to get some meat. Unless their pack was so big they had food problems.

‘Ugh, perhaps I should think about something else other than their feeding needs.’

While brooding about what the ratmen might want from us I heard some fuss consisting of rat shrieks, ratmen growls and other unidentified noises. They were slowly approaching my cell.

After a while two ratmen and a big ratman appeared at the door. The smell of meat was oozing from a sack they were carrying. The big ratman put a hand inside it and unceremoniously threw a few chunks of raw flesh into my cell.

‘It seems food is not a problem for them.’

The amount they had provided me was more than enough to satisfy my appetite.

‘Are they trying to fatten us?’

It made little sense. There was practically only meat down here, gathering the moss on the walls and the algae in the ponds would be far more more difficult.

I took a look at the food. I recognized some lizard meat and the other chunks I couldn’t identify were definitely from other reptilian creatures. I also noticed the fact that none of the bones in the cell looked like those of a rat.

‘Hmm.’

At the moment I didn’t have enough information to make any kind of escape plan. For now it was better to do my best to not attract their attention. If I tried to break free hastily I might end up knocked out like before, or something worse.

I started eating the food, there was nothing suspicious in it and I needed to keep my strength.

Those big ratmen, they were definitely an evolution of their species. Depending on their numbers and intentions they might be a great danger in the future. I remembered that there were six of them in the group that caught us.

‘How should I call them?’

I had randomly begun calling them big ratmen, but it sounded a bit generic. Maybe I should find a more fitting name.

‘Fierce ratmen, strong ratmen, tall ratmen…’

Tall fit them the best since they had double the height of the other ratmen. They weren’t as tall as humans, but they were close to their height.

Not long after ending my meal another tall ratman arrived, this one began tinkering with the cell’s door, untying some cords to open it. Unlike the previous ones, the humanoid wore some thick scaly hides all over its body.

Once the entrance was open the creature stepped back and threw a small piece of meat in front of the cell.

‘Do you think I’m stupid?’

I looked at the piece of meat, then at the ratman with disapproval. I didn’t know what it wanted, but it had come prepared in case I decided to attack. I hesitated for a while before reluctantly exiting the small cell. If they had any intention to harm me I had little chance to resist. I would collaborate for the time being.

Already outside I ate the morsel without taking my eyes off the humanoid beast. Despite being a little rough its equipment was quite elaborated. It consisted of boots, pants, a jacket, some kind of surcoat, gloves and a helmet. All made of different kinds of thick scaly hides. It also had a small whip, a bone club and a rudimentary bone spike hanging from a belt. The only other thing that took my attention was a collar made with a leather cord and a couple beast fangs.

“Gralk,” the creature growled at me while taking out more food.

I stared at the tall ratmen and it threw the snack close to me. Making sense of its command I turned around and started walking, not forgetting to take the morsel.

We were in a hallway with no ceiling. To my left was the tall dry stone wall. Looking up I saw we were inside a very big cave. To my right was the cavern’s edge, with more pens excavated inside the rock, some of them were vacant while others contained one or more fierce rats.

The corridor was long and straight, some normal ratmen were working while a tall ratman was sitting near an opening of the dry stone wall, it was probably a guard. They would be a troublesome obstacle if wanted to flee from my cell, but there was something even worse, a dog. The creature was laying down at the far end of the hallway, glaring at me.

‘Ugh, why is one of those here?’

I flinched. I didn’t want to see more of those beast ever again, I still remembered my short encounter with one of them. I didn’t have any proof, but I was sure the animal had been trained to attack any rat that tried to flee from their pen.

‘Things are already looking grim.’ I thought gloomily.

“Gralk,” this time the tall ratman poked me with its bone club.

‘Who do you think you are to order me around?’

I stared at the ratmen. I had no intention of acting like a pet to some walking rat, but I guessed it was better than being their dinner. I started walking, feeling the dogs eyes fixated on me.

The humanoid creature guided me through the open in the wall, it also had a haphazardly made bone door. I hesitantly passed by the tall ratman standing guard, at the other side there was a big space surrounded by the same tall dry stone wall.

It looked like some kind of training ground. There were small groups of no more than three fierce rats being monitored by tall ratmen. All of them were wearing similar garments and weapons to the one who was guiding me.

The place was big enough for the six groups present to keep quite some distance from one another. The wall had a couple more entrances, each protected by a guard accompanied by a dog.

‘Ugh, fucking dogs.’

I swore at them and kept watching the scene. It didn’t seem like I was being guided to a slaughterhouse. The ratmen tamers were issuing commands to the fierce rats and using their whips or giving treats based on how well they followed them.

‘Quite simplistic but effective.’ I observed.

After teaching my followers I could ascertain that their methods would yield results with most individuals.

One of the groups took my attention. There, a fierce rat was biting one of the tall ratmen watching over them while the other tamer was vigorously lashing at the rat.

Seeing the situation I promptly issued a command myself, “Shrii, shriik!”

“Shriik!” One of the rats answered me.

The fierce rat biting the ratmen stopped and also looked at me. The third one simply gazed in my direction. Soon the three fierce rats approached me. I was relieved to see my followers in good health, although Number Two had some minor wounds.

“Graths!” The bitten tall ratman seemed quite annoyed to see that the three rodents were ignoring him now.

The tamer guiding me came close the other two and they began discussing something between themselves using vaguely human sounding growls and gestures.

After finding my subordinates I could finally calm down a bit. I decided that my priority would be to keep my three followers alive while gathering information to escape from this place. I looked at Number Two, first of all I had to make sure he wouldn’t end up pissing off or severely injuring a ratman.

…

It hadn’t been long since I had arrived here, probably two or three days. For some reason the ratmen kept me in a different cell than my followers. I didn’t think they had figured I had plans to break free from this place, so they had to have some other reason to keep me alone.

During the training sessions they let the four of us stay together, specially because I was the only one who could keep Number Two from biting the tamers at the first sign of distraction. For the time being I was following their instructions and made sure my subordinates did the same. If possible I wanted our captors to give us some freedom, I needed to know what lay behind the tall wall of the enclosed training grounds.

The ratmen definitely had some plans for us, but I wasn’t sure which ones. The only thing I knew was that they wanted us to obey their commands before we evolved.

Talking about evolving, I had most probably entered the growth period that preceded an evolution. I wasn’t sure yet, but the last couple days I had had more appetite and I thought had I got slightly bigger. The amount of food they were giving us probably helped to speed up the process, because they always fed us before and after every training session.

For now I had to wait and hope my guess that we would end up as ratmen ourselves was correct. I also hoped that my other followers could fend off by themselves until we came back, they should be able to survive if they hunted newborn lizards and fed in the big pond.