Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 43: Rescue

I peered over at him. He constantly radiated this 'wise old grandpa' energy that oftentimes got on my nerves, but this time it served to settle them. "How many women do you actually know?" I asked in return, raising a brow.

The man huffed. "Back in my day–" he started, but he was cut off by the sentry.

"Guys?" he said, his gaze unfocused as he stared off into nothing. "I found Dusk. He's being hauled along by that one psychopath toward Lawrent's study."

"Which psychopath?" one of the shields asked. "There's a few in that family."

"Dornar," he replied absently.

One of Wade's rats scampered back, slipping through the bars and scampering up his shoulder. He looked down at it, then toward all of us. "We've got a hit," he said. "Traces of movement and hasty relocation of furniture on the lower levels of the estate. The rest of my rats have gone down further to confirm."

The other sentry broke out of his spellform, blinking his eyes rapidly as if adjusting to a different light. "Want to give my idea a shot?" he asked.

Wade squinted. "You can try, but it might not be as simple as you think. Interacting with rat senses is... weird."

The other sentry shrugged. "It's worth a try," he said. "And it'll give everyone a good idea of what to expect."

After another moment, Karsien and I moved forward, as was discussed earlier. The sentry laid an arm on each of us, then Wade touched his back.

"Now, you might feel a bit disoriented at first," he said, beginning to activate one of his spellforms. "That's normal. Try not to panic when it hits you."

I could feel the mana transfer as it moved from Wade, through the sentry's rune, and into me. I had just enough time to think I don't panic before my mind was hit with a jumble of foreign sensations.

Small feet, scrabbling over the stones. Fifty different scents, all converging at once. Cheese. Insect dropping. Another rat. Ignore, have to find path. Down and down and down, feet carrying. Sniff the air. Man walking by, not friendly. Hide in shadows. Dart past, aim for stairs. Lots of scuff marks.

Death and disease downstairs. Want to stay away. Want to leave. Have to go. Have to find. Master promised cheese.

I coughed as the sensations ceased, the experience of living as a rat very, very different from living as a Rat. It was like a dozen foreign understandings were shoved into my head. "Vritra's horns," I cursed, rubbing at my forehead. "You could've warned me, Wade!"

Wade shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I did. It takes a while to get used to. But does that mean it worked?"

"It did," Karsien said, far less affected than me. "We know the path to take from that rodent's memories."

The other sentry removed his hands. "Normally I only share my own enhanced senses and vision, but I can share another person's if they touch me willingly. But I have to say, living as a rat is... a lot different than what I expected."

He shook his head, then peered back at the estate. I felt mana flare as he activated his rune again, trying to scry Toren's location.

Knowing the route to the basement did help my confidence. I knew where I had to go and what I had to do.

"You really do promise your rats cheese," I said to Wade, who blushed in the low light. "I said that as a joke!"

The young librarian shrugged. "They actually don't like cheese much. When I really want to motivate them, I give them apples. Adds extra incentive."