The Rat and the Cat

 

 

The three men stood up from the table where they had been in deep discussion. They looked very much like lords or nobles as they were well dressed with ornate swords at their belts. They stepped across the sunlit room, their heads bowed as they talked on in low murmurs as they headed for the door.

 

They passed by a huge tapestry depicting a battle scene on one wall, beneath which were two large chests. Then they reached the door and opening it, slipped outside and then closed it again. Silence filled the hall and nothing stirred except for a little disturbed dust, the tiny motes winking in the sunlight. Then movement was seen by one of the chests.

 

A rat appeared, an unusual looking rodent as its fur was straw coloured and its eyes a bright blue. Its nose twitched as it sniffed the air and then it scampered across the floor toward the other chest.

 

But it had only gone a short way when the door suddenly opened again. The rat turned around to see a sleek black cat slip inside before it was closed again. It saw the rat instantly and uttered a snarling meow, its green eyes bright with hunger.

 

The rat gave a squeak of terror, knowing it was in serious trouble. It was not far from its escape hole in the wall behind the second chest, but it was still a long way to go when you had a cat coming after you.

 

It darted away with another squeak as the cat suddenly bounded toward it. It knew it would not reach the chest in time and would have to try and slow the cat. There was a spear standing against the wall and the rat stopped beside it. It stood up against it and with its tiny forelegs, pushed it.

 

The spear suddenly slid forward, its blade slicing across the floor and almost striking the cat. It hissed in fury as it jumped out of the way and that gave the rat enough time to reach the chest.

 

It slipped behind it to a small hole in the wall and hurrying down it, reached the narrow wall space. It turned and looked back up the hole as the cat’s whiskered face appeared, its green eyes glaring with fury.

 

The rat thought it was safe, yet to its horror the cat’s features suddenly blurred and it quickly shrank in size. With a furious snarl it entered the hole.

 

The rat knew it was in serious trouble now as even a cat its own size was deadly. It fled along the wall space to a wooden beam slanting upwards. It quickly scurried up it as fast as it small legs would take it, the cat uttering a vicious snarl close behind.

 

It reached a hole in the ceiling above and scampered through into the building's roof space. Thick wooden beams supported a tiled roof above and it darted up one of them. It reached a narrow crack between two tiles as another snarl sounded very close behind.

 

The rat began to squeeze itself through the crack, but it was very tight even for a rat and it was not quite quick enough. Just as it slipped through, the cat caught up with it and slashed at its back with its sharp claws.

 

The rat squealed in pain and staggered out onto the roof. It suddenly slipped and rolling across the tiles, tumbled into a gutter filled with a little water. It struggled quickly out of it, bloodied and bedraggled and looked back up the roof as the cat appeared. Its features blurred again and it resumed its normal, fearsome size.

 

The rat quickly fled along the edge of the roof toward a small chimney at one corner. It slipped around it and abruptly leapt off the roof to land on a length of guttering that had broken away. It formed a crude bridge to the roof of a lower building next door and the rat scuttled across to it.

 

A hole in some tiles was close by and it slipped through it. Down a wooden beam to another hole in the ceiling, a vicious snarl heard as it slipped through. Down another wall space it fled to a further hole in a wall, squealing shrilly as it emerged into a room beyond.

 

* * *

 

Mother Lilac the witch was reading a book of spells when a rat’s squealing disturbed her. She was sitting in a chair by a window enjoying the sunshine to read by. But she gave a start at the sound and looked up to see a rat scurry across the floor and slip under a nearby table. Then she gasped as a cat, the size of rat, dart out of the hole after it.

 

'Wizards breath!' she exclaimed, leaping to her feet as the cat’s features blurred to resume its normal size.

 

Quick as a wink she snatched out a long, silver wand from her black robes. She pointed it at the cat, muttering a few words and a ball of yellow light leapt from its tip. It struck the cat with a snap and froze it still as a statue.

 

'Penny! Penny!' Mother Lilac called out in concern as she hurried over to the table and stooped to look under it. ‘Are you all right?'

 

A weak squeak sounded from the rat lying on the floor. It was panting heavily and there were two tiny claw marks on its rump.

 

'Oh, you poor dear!' Mother Lilac said and quickly picked it up.

 

She carried it to a nearby couch and carefully put it down on it. Then pointing her wand at it, she muttered a few words and a ball of light struck the rat. Its features blurred and swirled, getting larger until they cleared to reveal a young girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes lying on the couch.

 

'A... a cat!' she gasped in terror. 'A cat!'

 

'I’ve taken care of it… you're safe now,’ Mother Lilac said reassuringly, patting her on a shoulder. 'I’ve put a spell on it.'

 

'I've been clawed!' Penny wailed and rolled over to show a deep scratch on each cheek of her bottom.

 

'They’re only scratches, my dear,' Mother Lilac replied. ‘I think you’ll live.’

 

'It's my bottom!' Penny said indignantly.

 

'Come, come, I'll get something to clean them. You just lie there and rest.'

 

Mother Lilac stepped out of the room and Penny laid her head down on a cushion. She was shaking badly after her ordeal and felt quite ill. She looked at the cat, frozen a few feet away and shuddered at how close she had come to being eaten.

 

This was the first time she had ever been in danger since she had started to help her Aunt Lilac. As a witch, her Aunt was sometimes asked to spy on folk and Penny would help her by being changed into an animal of some kind that could slip into places unseen. She had been changed into a variety of animals… an owl, a possum and again today a rat.

 

It was easy work and until now she had never been in any danger. Then she frowned as a new thought came to her. Normal cats didn’t change their sizes like this one had and she guessed there was some kind of spell on it. The question was, what kind of spell? Was it just a cat or was it someone like her, changed into a cat with the ability to change its size?

 

She heard her aunt come back into the room and looked up.

 

'This is not an ordinary cat,' she said.

 

Mother Lilac nodded as she sat down next to her, holding a bottle of lotion and some cotton balls.

 

'I think that’s obvious, my dear,’ she replied.

 

‘Do you know whether it’s a real cat… or is it a person, like me?

 

‘It’s a real cat,’ Mother Lilac replied. ‘If it was a person changed into a cat my spell would have revealed it.’

 

Penny nodded, glad that it was not a real person as that would have made things very difficult. But even so it had been obviously been spelled to catch things that a normal cat couldn’t.

 

‘Do you think it was spelled to catch spies?’

 

‘Probably,’ Mother Lilac nodded. 'Lord Norel must be suspicious.’

 

'Then we've been discovered.'

 

'Perhaps,' Mother Lilac replied. 'Did you find out when he plans to kidnap Prince Erlan?’

 

'They’re going to decide after dinner,' Penny replied. ‘I was going to wait till they came back, but then the cat appeared.’

 

'In that case we’ll have to come up with another plan,’ Mother Lilac said thoughtfully. 'As well as what to do with the cat.'

 

'You can drop it down some deep well for all I care!' Penny snapped.

 

'Now, now,' Mother Lilac said. 'It’s not the cat’s fault. Now this lotion will sting a bit.'

 

A short time later Penny couldn’t decide whether her bottom stung worse from the clawing or from her aunt’s lotion. It had stung really badly. But after a long soak in a hot bath she felt much better and getting dressed, came out into the room as her aunt was pouring some tea.

 

She had put the cat on a windowsill and Penny couldn’t help but giggle at it. It looked quite funny frozen, its green eyes bulging and mouth gaping showing its sharp fangs.

 

'Better now?' Mother Lilac asked as she handed her a cup of tea.

 

Penny nodded, but still sat down gingerly.

 

'Good. I’ve put a potion in your tea that will ease the sting. It will make you a little drowsy so you might sleep for a while. Meanwhile I’ll have to think of how we can still discover when Lord Norel is going to do the kidnapping. It will have to be something clever...’

 

Penny sipped her tea, letting her aunt talk on without really listening. The potion in it was quite strong and the stinging on her bottom quickly faded away. She began to feel sleepy and closing her eyes, laid her head down on the table.

 

She had almost dozed off when she suddenly felt as though she was being watched. Watched by someone sly... someone cunning... someone like… a witch!

 

She opened her eyes to find her aunt gazing at her with her utterly black eyes, a crafty smile on her lips.

 

'How would you like to be a cat for the rest of the day?' she asked.