The Thief and the Swordsfrog Chapter 5
By Silent Elegy
Eight very large rats fought over the scraps Frog had brought to the alley
behind the bar. The ninth and largest had already gotten his share and was
sitting on Rat’s paw. “This here’s Lenny,” she said.
“He’s the leader of this gang.”
“Lenny?” Frog asked skeptically.
“Yah, he’s named after a famous thief. Leonard the Shadow.”
Frog nodded in understanding. Leonard the Shadow had been the greatest thief
ever to walk the land. He’d started on his chosen path in 456 at age
11. Over the years, he’d formed a gang consisting of himself and 8 other
people.
The gang, which was called the Rat Pack, had reigned with an iron fist for
nearly 30 years, spreading terror across the land. Men trembled and
women swooned at the mere mention of the Rat Pack or Lenny the
Shadow. Their one redeeming quality was that they never stole from
anyone who couldn’t afford it. Lenny remembered all too well his
impoverished past and had pity for those like him.
Many had tried to stop them, but all failed. The Pack was simply too
smart to be trapped and too strong to be fought. The Pack had seemed
invincible until the day a chance bolt from a lucky man’s crossbow had
hit Lenny in the back. After that, the rest of the Pack was imprisoned
and executed.
Frog quickly made the connection between the Rat Pack and this pack of
rats. “Then the rest of thy friends must be…”
Rat grinned and nodded. She pointed them out as she said their names.
“Jonny, Scarface, Little Bro, Big Bro, Alan the Knife, Steph, Mikey,
and Fingers Mack.”
Frog laughed and shook his head. “And these rats shall discover what’s
going on in Guardia?”
“Don’t underestimate ‘em, Frogman. They may be small, but
they can get into anything. You should know better.”
“Aye, tis true,” he agreed. He reached out and let Lenny sniff
his hand. The rest of the gang rushed over to inspect him now. Apparently,
they didn’t mind what they saw because they promptly ignored him.
“A’right, boys, listen up. We’s all gonna go with Frogman
here to Guardia Castle. I wants ya’ll to behave. Ya do good, ya gets
shinies. Ya do bad, ya gets nethin’. A’right? Right. Now, here’s
what we’s gonna do…” Rat gave out job assignments to each
of the rats in specific, referring to Frog for a few details here and there.
Then she stood. “Le’s go.”
Frog didn’t see the rat pack at all during the first part of the trip.
He was worried they might have decided not to come.
“No worries, Frogger,” said Rat when he voiced his thoughts.
“They’s coming. They just don’t like to travel in the open.”
“Canst thou understand them?”
“I’m a rat, ain’t I?”
“Aye, but I’m a frog, yet I cannot understand normal frogs.”
“You ain’t a normal frog,” Rat pointed out.
“But thou art not a normal rat, either.”
“Hm, good point. Weird.”
They walked in silence for a while longer. As they came to the Zenan Bridge,
the rat pack appeared again, running ahead of them. Rat grinned. “See?
I telled ya they was still here.”
As they arrived on the other side, the rats disappeared again. “Where
wilt thou be when we arrive?” Frog asked.
“I’ll hang out in the forest. Come out tomorrow, and I’ll
tell ya if we found anything.”
“Very well. I shall see the on the morrow.”
“See ya.” Rat disappeared in much the same fashion her boys had,
leaving Frog walking alone.
Light, movement, sound, smell…Kitchen. Right. Lenny’s thought process
was nowhere near the caliber of a human’s, but it didn’t matter.
He squeaked at his gang to get moving, and they’d meet Rat back at dawn.
The pack scattered.
Smell, smell, smell cheese…smell…no cats. Good. Lenny peeked out
from underneath a counter. Some…what were they…humans. Right. Cooks.
Right. Lenny rushed out of his hiding spot. He saw Big Bro across the room,
sniffing at an interesting looking mess. Little Bro was, as ever, nearby.
They never went anywhere without each other. Lenny ran up some steps.
Smell…still no cats. Right. Good. He looked around. There was Scarface
stalking one of the humans that clanked when he walked. Soldier. Yeah, that
was it. Lenny twitched his whiskers. Jonny had been by here…
Big Bro squeaked as he came up the stairs. Little Bro squeaked because he
always repeated everything Big Bro said. Lenny squeaked at them to get their
tails in gear if they wanted shinies. They ran past at high speed.
Lenny twitched his ears. Voices. He hated human voices. Too low-pitched;
he couldn’t understand a word they said. Little ones were okay, because
their squeaking was a more normal pitch, but big ones just gave him a headache.
He followed the voices anyway.
He looked around. There was that one human Rat described to him. He followed
her. He listened very carefully to what they said because, although he
couldn’t understand the words, he could still parrot back what they’d
said to Rat. He had a talent for mimicking human speech, albeit at a much
higher pitch.
Smell…something…wrong…not a cat…not quite…smells
like…
PAIN!
Lenny ran straight forward, up some steps, and into a small room where he
hid in a nearby box. He panted and gasped as his back bled and hurt. Something
with fur and claws charged up the steps, but it passed his hiding place.
Apparently it didn’t have good smell. Lenny would have laughed if his
back hadn’t been hurting.
He peeked out carefully, and caught a familiar and friendlier smell. Fingers
Mack. Lenny squeaked at him to find everyone else and get them out. Fingers
squeaked back and ran away. Lenny pulled himself out of his hiding place
and made his painful way back to Rat.
.