The Forgotten Map (17 page)

‘Swords at the ready,' the Captain ordered. ‘We go in together. Not a sound.'

‘Aye aye, Captain,' the crew mouthed in unison.

Whisker said nothing. He clearly knew what the Captain wanted him to do.

‘See you soon, matey,' Horace whispered as he tried to scramble up the side of the drain.

Whisker gave Horace a helpful boost and watched the four rats cross the deserted street. He was surprised to see Ruby look back at him as they prepared to enter the shop. He couldn't tell if it was a look of pity or a look of irritation, but it only made the guilty feeling in his stomach grow worse.

The Pie Rats disappeared through the doorway of the shop and Whisker waited in agonising silence. Thick curtains obscured the windows on both floors and he saw no movement, no passing shadows and nothing to suggest a daring rescue was in progress. Like a caged hamster suspended over a crocodile swamp, he continued to wait.

Rat Bait stirred and Whisker looked down. The old captain sighed in his sleep and resumed snoring. When Whisker looked back at the shop, the door was slowly opening. A moment later a crooked white nose and two pink eyes cautiously peered out.

Whisker felt a wave of relief wash away his despair.

One by one, a procession of rodents tiptoed across the empty street. Eaton and Emmie carried wrapped packages, Fred lugged a huge tray of flour and spices, and Whisker was relieved to note that no one was covered in blood or missing any body parts. At least, none they hadn't already lost. He felt like shouting for joy, but the finger to Pete's lips told him that would ruin everything.

He helped the silent line of friends climb into the drain. It took some pushing and pulling when it came to Fred's shoulders, but in the end he squeezed through, taking a few cobblestones with him.

‘Ouch!' cried a voice from the bottom of the drain. ‘The walls be crumblin' in around me. What kind of trickery is this, ye beastly brutes?'

‘Shut him up,' the Captain hissed. ‘But try not to knock him out this time.'

‘I'll take care of it,' Whisker said, trying to be useful. ‘Rat Bait, listen to me. We're safe now, but you've got to be…'

‘Hang on,' Pete cut in. ‘Did you just call him
Rat Bait?
'

‘Of course he called me Rat Bait,' came a gruff reply. ‘That be me name. Do ye have a problem with that?'

‘No,' Pete said in confusion, ‘it's just that …'

‘It's just that it's a rather fortunate coincidence that we find you here, Rat Bait,' the Captain remarked. ‘There is much we need to discuss.'

‘I understand,' Rat Bait croaked. ‘I know a fine tavern where we can talk as gentlemen over a couple o' drinks if ye catch me drift.'

‘Thank you for your kind offer,' the Captain said politely, ‘but I would prefer if we avoided taverns and kept a low profile for the rest of the evening.'

Rat Bait sighed with disappointment, ‘Aye. I suppose yer right. Where are we headed then?'

‘Underground,' the Captain replied. ‘These drains are our safest passage to the harbour.'

‘Unless we get hopelessly lost or washed away,' Pete grumbled.

It seemed that others were having similar reservations and mutterings of discontent echoed around the cramped space.

Mr Tribble found a solution that put everyone's minds at ease. ‘Eaton, show the Captain the gift Fred bought you.'

Eaton scratched around in the darkness and the next minute, the drain was bathed in warm light. It took Whisker's eyes a moment to adjust, but when he focused on Eaton, he saw the young mouse was holding a new brass lantern. It had four square sides and a domed top with a handle. Three adjustable mirrors stuck out below the dome.

‘Eaton has always been a little apprehensive about the dark,' Mr Tribble said, ‘so he asked Fred for a lantern to replace the one we lost in our boat.'

Eaton looked rather nervous with everyone staring at him, but Mr Tribble encouraged him to show them what the lantern could do.

Eaton explained hesitantly, ‘It's um … got mirrored panels that fold down on each side to block out the light and focus it in one direction … just like a lighthouse.'

Eaton flipped down the three mirrors and the light narrowed to a single bright beam, illuminating the Captain's face.

‘Perfect!' the Captain declared. ‘It's just what we need.'

Emmie, not to be outdone, began to reveal her present, a box of candy canes, but Whisker heard little of what she said. He was distracted by Rat Bait. The old ruffian stared at the brightly lit Captain like he had seen a ghost.

As the lantern swung around to face the tunnel ahead, Rat Bait's expression returned to normal, but Whisker knew there was something strange going on.

The Captain led the rodents through an underground labyrinth of drains. Slimy passages joined the tunnel from all directions. Some carried a trickle of water, some oozed sludge. But the Captain stuck to the main route and pressed on.

The roll of string Ruby had purchased proved useful at keeping the group together in one line. Whisker let the others overtake him, so he was at the end of the string with Horace, and wasted no time in asking his burning question.

‘What happened in the shop? Everyone left like Sabre had simply vanished into thin air.'

‘He did,' Horace said. ‘We entered the shop to find Eaton wandering around the lantern aisle in his usual jittery state, Mr Tribble in a dark corner of the mapmaking section and the others upstairs in the confectionary aisle. None of them had any idea the Cat Fish had even been there.'

‘What about the shopkeeper?' Whisker asked. ‘Salamander, or whatever his name was.'

Horace made a snoring noise. ‘That old relic was asleep. When Ruby managed to wake him, he said he'd dozed off and hadn't seen or heard anything.'

A horrible thought struck Whisker.

‘Maybe Sabre never left,' he whispered. ‘Maybe he's still hiding in there, watching our every move …'

‘Relax,' Horace said. ‘Sabre made a sneaky exit before we arrived. We found the back door ajar and Salamander swears it was closed before he fell asleep.'

Whisker felt relieved, but his relief soon turned to disgust as he squelched through deep puddles of stagnant water and thick gooey slime. Just as he was beginning to think they were headed up the wrong passage towards the foulest toilet on the island, twinkling lights came into view.

The line of rodents stopped as the tunnel reached a large opening overlooking the harbour. On the Captain's cue, Eaton snuffed out the lantern.

‘We'll follow the rocks until we're close to the rowboat,' the Captain whispered. ‘Do you feel like a midnight swim, Fred?'

Fred nodded enthusiastically. ‘Nothing beats a moonlight swim before supper.'

‘But what ‘bout me?' Rat Bait whined.

‘You'll have to join us on the
Apple Pie,'
the Captain replied. We can discuss business once we're safely out to sea.'

‘I be doin' no such thing,' Rat Bait snorted. ‘Meanin' ye no offence, Capt'n Black Rat, but I'll take me chances on me own an' sail out o' here on me trusty sloop. If yer wantin' to discuss you know what, we can have a private word while yer giant swims for yer boat.'

The Captain was silent as he considered Rat Bait's demands. Pete gave him a worried look.

‘We will talk in here,' the Captain said. ‘I don't trust the open air to keep secrets. The others can go on ahead. But there's one condition, Rat Bait – Pete stays. He knows as much as I do and, frankly, I want him here to ensure I don't get hoodwinked.'

For a moment, Rat Bait looked offended. He glanced at Pete, shrugged and turned back to the Captain.

‘Yer pencil-legged friend can stay,' he agreed. ‘But it's not to be two against one. I'm entitled to a rat on me side as well. Just in case it's ye that be doin' the hoodwinkin'.'

Whisker was amused at how the two captains negotiated their meeting, but quickly changed his sentiment when Rat Bait pointed straight at him.

‘I be wantin' Cap … I mean, crewman Whisker here as me second,' he said. ‘The lad's proved himself this evenin' and I've no hesitation in trustin' him.'

Horace gave Whisker a look of admiration, Ruby shot him a look of annoyance and Whisker felt torn between his loyalty to the crew and his desire to discover more about the map.

‘He's not a crewman,' Pete mumbled. ‘He's an apprentice: a very new apprentice.'

Rat Bait stared at Whisker in surprise and all of Whisker's lies came flooding back to him. He wasn't a captain. He wasn't even a proper pirate. He was a nobody, and who would want a nobody on their side?

It seemed Rat Bait did.

Whisker heard a bemused chuckle and when he looked up, the old rogue was grinning with pride.

‘An' a fine new apprentice he be,' Rat Bait exclaimed. ‘He's a rat with a heart o' gold an' a knack o' gettin' himself in an' out o' trouble like none I've ever met.'

Whisker didn't wait for Pete's sarcastic taunts or another of Ruby's hostile glances.

‘I'll be your second,' he said boldly.

The Captain nodded in approval and began issuing instructions to the crew. ‘You're in charge, Horace. Give us one short whistle when Fred returns with the boat. Two short whistles if the Cat Fish get there first.'

Horace gave a farewell salute with his hook and began leading the mice along the dark rocks of the harbour. Ruby trailed at the rear in a tangle of string, clearly annoyed to be left out of the meeting that would change all their lives.

The Meeting

The air inside the tunnel was charged with anticipation. Whisker stood in the shadows and stretched his aching tail. Rat Bait crouched beside him, awaiting the negotiation.

‘Where would ye like to begin?' Rat Bait asked in a casual voice.

‘You can begin by proving you've got the map,' Pete hissed from the other side of the tunnel.

Rat Bait rose to his feet and eyed Pete warily. ‘The map's in a safe place. But I'll only be sharin' me secret when I've seen enough gold for a long an' comfortable retirement.'

‘That's hardly a fair deal,' Pete snapped. ‘You could tell us anything once you have our gold.'

Rat Bait shrugged. ‘True. But what choice do ye have?'

‘We can walk away right now and you can take your chances with the Cat Fish.' Pete said angrily. He stamped his pencil in defiance and his newspaper hat tumbled off.

‘Maybe I will!' Rat Bait spat. ‘They'll be more co-operative than a walkin' newsstand!'

‘Gentlemen, please,' the Captain sighed. ‘The last thing we want is for the map to fall into the hands of Sabre. I understand the precautions you have taken to protect the map, Rat Bait, but it all boils down to this: can we be certain you have the actual Forgotten Map; the map that has remained a mere legend for most of my lifetime; the map that reveals the hidden location of the Island of Destiny; the map that leads to a treasure thought to be more precious than silver or gold; a treasure with power to alter one's very fate …?'

Whisker's tail tingled. He'd heard stories of buried chests on deserted islands before, but he'd never heard of a treasure as amazing as this. He began to imagine …
Was it a magical talisman granting invincible powers? Was it a crystal ball revealing the future?
It was hard for him to comprehend. He didn't believe in magic. The magic routines he saw at the circus were always an illusion. But part of him wanted to believe.

The Captain's words swam around in his head:
A treasure with the power to alter one's very fate
… He wondered if there really was such a thing; and if so, could it give him the power to do what his heart longed for most – could it find his family?

‘What
is
the treasure?' Whisker quivered excitedly.

‘Arr. That be the question,' Rat Bait laughed. ‘I wish I knew the answer as much as ye. But alas, the map ain't told me nothin' ‘cept what the legend says.
It be a treasure o' great power
…'

‘So you want us to purchase a map you don't actually have, which leads to an airy-fairy treasure you're not even certain of?' Pete said sceptically.

‘Aye,' Rat Bait grinned. ‘And that be the adventure o' it all.'

‘Phooey to your adventure!' Pete snapped. ‘I want facts.'

Unlike Pete, Whisker was hooked by the lure of the mystery and wouldn't be put off so easily.

‘Where did you get the map?' he asked eagerly.

Rat Bait looked directly at the Captain. ‘I be inheritin' it when I became the new capt'n o' the
Princess Pie.
'

The Captain's face grew tense and angry. ‘After that lousy, no-good excuse for a captain abandoned ship, deserting his crew … and his family.'

‘Err … that be truth,' Rat Bait stuttered, taken aback. ‘I didn't know how much ye'd remember ‘bout him.'