“Why do we need to get another kid, again?”

  Opal was pacing inside the room. Topaz was sitting on his chair, at his desk, where a bouquet of flowers sat inside a small vase, carving something on a small piece of wood, while whistling a weird tune. He seemed very, very relaxed.

  “He says that he made some wrong calculations and he’s actually still missing one. He said he would think about this last one, though. No skin off our backs for the retrieval.”

  The black clad man glared at his colleague. Well, he seemed to, since his face was covered as well.

  “We already have our hands full with them.” He started tapping his neck. “I’m getting a sore throat from having to sing lullabies two times a day.”

  Topaz stopped carving.

  “You could, like, not do that, Opal.”

  “If they don’t sleep after lunch they get grumpy, if they get grumpy they bite and throw tantrums, and if they do my headache flares up. You want me to have headaches, Topaz? Do you hate me so much?”

  The sitting man got up, and sighed.

  “You could just ignore them.”

  “I’m not like you, that can sleep even if a bomb explodes right next to where you’re resting. Like two years ago. I need my beauty sleep. This skin pretty won’t maintain itself alone.”

  “You don’t have skin.”

  “You can’t know that, you never saw me without my hood. Or my clothes.”

  Topaz winked.

  “Or did I?”

  Opal unsheathed his knife and pointed it on the chest of his colleague.

  “You’d be dead three times over already.”

  Topaz raised his hands and backed away.

  “Ok, ok, come on! I was just joking!”

  “Let’s get back to our job, please. Our client will arrive this evening. The new moon is tomorrow. We need to clean.”

  “Yes, and prepare the altar.”

  “Did you get the vases?”

  “I stole a couple from a potter” he said, pointing at a couple of brown vases sitting on the floor, “they should suffice.”

  “Is one of them the one on your desk with flowers in it?”

  “I’ll clean it! And you know I hate a barren room. Flowers give… color.”

  “Ok. So. Pots, check. Sacred cloth bathed in full moon water?”

  “Already done, it’s hanging on the wire right now so it doesn’t dribble everywhere.”

  “Good. Good. Then, fifty feet of rope to tie the kids. Check. A two piece set of green cultist-ish robes, check. Did the client say if he would bring his knife?”

  “He did, but he also said it wasn’t for the kids.”

  “He’s a weird one. He’s weird, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, but that does not matter. He already paid us, and we’ll help him as the code states.”

  “100% client satisfaction, or reimbursement is due?”

  “Not that one…”

  “Undergarments should be changed every other day?”

  “No! What the hell!”

  “Sorry, sorry. Money first, ethics second.”

  “That one, yes.”

  “Master would be proud.”

  “You do recall that we killed him in one of our first hits, right?”

  “This sentence and the one I said before can and should coexist. He would be proud. We’re good. He didn’t even suffer.”

  “That we are, Topaz, that we are…”

  “So we just need to follow you until we get back to the colony?”

  He who could smell through eras was following the black rat who was hurriedly walking in front of him. They had come out of the tailor’s house, and were moving away from that spot, nearing the rich district.

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  “No, not the colony.” He sniffed around, then took a left. “ I’ll bring you to a meeting spot, I already alerted them so that a human-speaking emissary could come parlay with you. Big Boss gave her full bargaining powers.”

  “He must trust her a lot.” said Little shadow slipping through the fabric of reality, a bit uncertain.

  “She’s his only surviving daughter, the star of the colony… and a hero. It’s obvious he does.”

  “How did you contact your friends?”

  He who snores like thunder shuddered, and the black of his fur seemed to flow and coalesce in small, miniature rats. They started moving around him, making small squeaks.

  “This is my ability. They can carry short messages for me. Very useful for a scout.”

  “Indeed! So that’s how you saw us before?”

  “No, you were sniffing around suspiciously. You were very visible.”

  Little shadow felt a bit ashamed.

  “Ok, that’s fair.”

  “What are you cuties talking about?” asked Liliane, who was following the three rodents alongside her husband.

  The three rats squeaked in unison.

  “Ok, keep your secrets then.”

  “What do you think they are talking about?” asked Lazar, curious.

  “I don’t know, I’d have to concentrate and I’m a bit tired right now. Let’s just keep following them and see where they bring us.”

  “Could be a trap for all we know.” grumbled the old man.

  “Yes, dear. A trap. A trap made by rats. For humans. All that writing is frying your brain, you see conspiracies everywhere.”

  “Excuse me” he said, glaring at her, “I’m just very cautious.”

  “Oh, they are slowing down, I believe we have to wait here.”

  They stopped in a narrow alley, where little light illuminated the walls.

  After a while, a rat came from the other end of the street. It was chubby, and had black streaks on an otherwise grey fur. The streaks seemed to coalesce into something resembling a mouth. It started speaking.

  “Hum hum, good day, filthy humans, I am the Speaker of the Big Boss, grovel in fear and prostrate yourself for the honour we’re giving you-”

  Spyce was upon her in a second. He pinned her down and squealed in her ear. She seemed a bit mollified after that. He got up, and scuttled with Thyme near the two elders.

  “Now, now, little lady,” said Liliane, “I think we’re starting on the wrong foot, because you have a problem, and we have a solution. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if we spoke on even terms without fearing someone may, I don’t know, turn you into a mouse?”

  “Oh no, please, not a mouse!” replied the rat, more fearful than before

  “Then, my dear, I believe we should start over. I’m Liliane, and this handsome gentleman” she said, gesturing towards the old man “is my husband, Lazar. What is your name?

  “I am known as Whisper between you humans. As I said, I’m the Speaker of the Big Boss, patriarch of my colony.”

  “Why do I sense a capital letter?” Lazar cut in, but was ignored. Liliane continued.

  “Your friend Thunder, here, said that rats have been disappearing, too. Is that true?”

  “Yes. Even one of our best scouts did. She was looking for clues in the Count’s manor, but she never came back. And she’s not the first. It seems a lot of rats from the poorer districts have disappeared.”

  Lazar looked pensive.

  “This is similar to how the kids have been disappearing. There must be the same entity behind it”

  “Let’s not jump to conclusions” suggested Liliane. “It may be a coincidence. Or they may be two related phenomena but they may not have the same mastermind behind them.”

  “That’s true. We can’t exclude any possibility.”

  “And how can you help us, Whisper?”

  “We can be your eyes and report to you on any finding”, said the rat. “We’ll look for kids. There are many hidden places in this city, especially in the walls. Even if no sane being would go inside the walls.”

  “What problems do the walls have?”

  “The elders say they are cursed. Everything that goes in there has its strength sapped by the enchantments woven in the metal part of the wall.”

  “We should definitely talk with the guards here, see if they have seen something weird with the walls. If they’re empty, it’s the perfect place to hide.”

  “You’re sure there is no underground network?”

  “Yes. All the cesspools have a discorporating rune on them, so there was never the need for plumbings and sewers.”

  “Fancy.” commented Lazar.

  “Well. Then, we have a deal.” said Liliane, extending her palm towards the rat. She sniffed it. “We’ll help you find your colony mates, you’ll help us find the kids.”

  “The two rats here spoke of food, too.” replied the grey rat.

  “That will be arranged for… another favour. We need to get inside the tower next to the temple.”

  “That would be really difficult. You can smell the protections from here.”

  “We have our ways to avoid them, but still, thank you for the heads up. We just need to know if there are any other… entrances to the place.”

  “I’ll have to ask Big Boss. He’s the only one to have ever entered the tower and survived.”

  “Good. We’ll see each other one hour from now. We’ll go talk with the city guard first.”

  “Ok. Smell you later, then!”

  The rat disappeared in a cloud of smoke, but if you looked closely, she was just scuttling away very fast, followed by Thunder.

  “That was… pretty weird.”

  “You really are getting old dear. You wouldn’t have blinked at something like this three hundred moons ago.”

  “Magical rats tho?”

  “Magical rats.”

  Inside a well maintained barn, Bramaboxa and Dulcicloxia were munching on some hay, trying to stave off their boredom.

  “Did they forget about us again?” asked the brown ox to its twin.

  “No. Yes. No. Let me check.”

  “Yes or no?”

  The dots on Dulci’s head shined bright.

  “Yes they did. But! Not on purpose, this time. Something big came up. Something even bigger is coming. It seems someone is collecting small humans for… something.”

  Brama looked curious. Almost happy about this new development.

  “Do you think we should lend a hand?”

  “Let’s wait and see. You know that tipping the scales on human problems can…”

  “Yes, butterfly effect and all that, I know.” It huffed. We’ll wait, then. Are the rats with them?”

  “They seem to be together, yes.”

  “Cool.” Its tail swatted something resembling a fly away “I hope they don’t do anything dangerous.”

  “You know that they will, don’t you?”

  Bramaboxa made a smile with its oxen face.

  “A daemon can hope, brother, a daemon can only hope.”