"Not a chance." the bartender said as he crossed his arms to show us that he meant it.
"I'm not letting you guys use my baby as a weapon of mass destruction to save some cheese man."
Without giving us time to convince him, he went to go serve a customer at the end of the bar. The king just followed him with me, Vivian, Rosie, and the rest of the Lanti behind us.
"Come on, La Lo. We need him. If the rats take the rest of us, the Grove is next."
La Lo, the bartender, just shrugged as he filled up a tall mug with blue fizzy juice. The insect he was serving had a long tube for a mouth with fit perfectly in his drink.
"If trouble comes, I'll move. It's getting harder for people to get around, temperatures have been rising, and the underground dictatorship is getting more and more powerful every hour. The last thing I need is trouble with the rat empire."
Now that he mentioned it, it did feel a little hotter than it was a couple of hours ago. We hadn't even made it to where the jungle would be, but it already felt like we were near the desert. La Lo headed to the back to do whatever it was that bartenders do in the back, which gave me time to look around while the king followed him to try and reason with him.
Most of the Lanti either stood around awkwardly or milled around while making small talk with fellow Lanti. Rosslyn hopped off my shoulder and ran to the back with the king and the bartender, leaving me on my own.
I didn't feel like making small talk with a massive caterpillar, so I decided to sit near the window and look out across the landscape. There was a lot of wide open space around the tavern. It felt like we were in the middle of a grass field if the grass was replaced with stone and cobble.
The more I looked around, the more piles of cobble I saw, with holes in the ceiling that were of the same shape as the heaps of rocks that littered the ground. There were some piles that were almost taller than the tavern itself.
Sedimentia must have been feeling the effects of the pirate king's rule because these piles seemed like they broke from the ceiling recently. It was as if the entire kingdom was starting to cave in on itself, and the rapidly increasing temperature wasn't helping the sense of doom that Sedimentia might crumble if we don't apprehend Tymir soon.
As I admired the crumbling landscape, Vivian and Rosie sat at my table with me. They seemed to notice the piles of cobble as well because that was the first thing they talked about.
"If you guys really are the heroes, then you have to save Sedimentia before it's too late."
Seeing the kingdom already starting to fall made our short time to save the world seem even shorter. Artlandia and Sedimentia were already withering, and I'm sure the other kingdoms would be withering soon as well.
Feeling the stress burn in my chest, I tried to nod it off as if it wasn't a problem.
"We've already taken down one of Tymir's outposts. He must be getting weaker. I'm sure the crumbling will stop any hour now."
Vivian gave a polite nod while uneasily glancing over at the room where the king, the bartender, and the Rosslyn were having their debate. Rosie didn't seem too worried, though. She still had the big smile on her face that she had on earlier when we arrived.
"I can't wait! The bartender is gonna let us use his pet snail to fight all the bad rat people! And you'll help save all our friends! It's gonna be so cool!"
I couldn't help but smile as she showed her faith in us. Although I don't know how a pet snail can help us win a war, I like the enthusiasm.
The bartender walked out from the back with his three pairs of arms wrapped around milk crates full of booze bottles. Rosslyn was on his shoulder helping the king debate with him to assist us in the rat war, but he wasn't budging.
"I have a hundred problems as it is, I don't need my customers to be driven off by a war, especially when I've been itching to move shop for so long."
The king didn't stop. He just planted his hand on his free shoulder once he placed down the crates. Even the bartender could tell that the king desperately needed his help.
He just sighed, taking Rosslyn off his shoulder as he shook his head solemnly.
"I can't. That's final... I'm sorry, but if your friends aren't gonna buy anything, you all gotta go."
The king slowly turned to his people before shrugging and waving for them to go. As they slowly shuffled out the door, he followed, waiting at the door for me, Rosslyn, and Vivian. We tried talking about an alternate plan as the Lanti filed through the door, but there really wasn't anything else we could do besides rush into the rat town like maniacs.
Just as we were about to leave, the tavern shaked. A couple of drinks were spilled, and the owners of said drinks yelled in annoyance. I thought it was just a rock that fell from the ceiling hitting the roof of the tavern, but it was followed by another one, and another one.
We ran out to see what was happening and were met with a few dozen rat people surrounding the tavern. Some had junk spears while others had trash bows and arrows. Behind them were three catapults manned by more rat men.
A rat wearing army, General fatigues pulled out a megaphone and stood on top of one of the catapults as he spoke.
"Attention Lanti and company. You were found trespassing on our land. Therefore, you are our property. You are to come with us willingly or suffer the consequences."
As he put down his megaphone, they readied their bows and spears, as well as one of the catapults. I didn't have any neat trick up my sleeve that I could use to get out of this. Unless Rosslyn turned into a dragon here and now, we had no choice but to surrender.
By the time I would reach for my sword, I'd be riddled with arrows and spears. Rosslyn gave me an uneasy look before climbing on top of my head and yelling back.
"My name is Rosslyn, I am the guardian of Roslantica. You will do as I say, and maybe I won't flay your race alive. You will free all of your captives, and you will receed back to the trash village you came from, never to contest the Lanti again. Do I make myself clear?"
The rat general just picked at his ear and leaned in closer as if he was hard of hearing.
"What did that little rat just say?"
The rat men locked us up in cages as they rolled us towards their village. For such filthy looking creatures, they were organized. They had exactly the right amount of cages, with the perfect sizes for all of us. That, along with the fact that they outnumbered us and had more than enough weapons to make us surrender.
The rat men were easily around 4 feet when they stood, but they definitely had power in numbers confined to very organized ranks. They were a natural rat army, and it was absolutely astounding. I couldn't even be properly irritated by how impressed I was.
We just got kidnapped by slimy little rat people and were being shipped to their village to be used as decoration for the streets, and worst of all, Sedimentia would collapse and completely crush us because of it. If we didn't get free, the six kingdoms would be done for.
Rosslyn and I were put in separate cages, but we were close enough to talk, at least if we did it quietly. She didn't seem happy about the rat people not falling for her bluff, even though she was telling the truth.
"When I become the guardian again, I'll be sure to blow up their village and make it seem like an accident."
Her little cell didn't have bars. Instead, it had fencing to keep her from slipping through the bars too easily. The bars on my cage were too tight to slip through and were too thick to break. If I had my backpack, I could definitely find a way to break myself out, but these rat guys were thorough.
I tried to think of some way out of this predicament, like grabbing a branch and tipping over the cage or picking up a rock and breaking the lock, keeping me in here, but there was nothing. I couldn't even think of someone who could come and save us besides the silhouette from the cave. But, unless he can take on a mini army, I wouldn't count on it.
The city of trash began to peak over the horizon as we got to the top of an elevated road. The city looked even bigger up close. Towers and buildings of variety and inconsistency reached so high that they looked as if they would touch the high ceiling of Sedimentia.
Rat people of varying sizes and ages surrounded the streets as they paraded us towards the castle at the end of the road. They laughed, threw trash, spat, and yelled at us as we passed. It would have been easy to ignore if one of them hadn't chucked a pile of nuts and bolts at my face.
This place smelled awful, like a dump of all dumps. I smelled rotten food, blended up garbage, and other smells from things that were probably never edible in the first place. There was no way these rat people liked the smell, if they even could anymore.
Each block we passed was another set of different smells and piles of junk. We passed rotten eggs with old buggies, dog poop with ripped up stuffed animals, and even blue cheese with scrapped windmills and metal. There were insects almost as big as the ones from the bar crawling all over the piles of junk.
There were tons of metal and junk skyscrapers that were hundreds of feet high. Whenever I looked up, I could barely see the ceiling of Sedimentia because of all the buildings and structures in the way. The city may have been made of trash, but it was still so amazing, in a gross kind of way.
Finally, we made it to the castle. It was surrounded by a moat full of sewage and spikes rather than water and sharks, which was equally terrifying, in my opinion. I'd rather get eaten alive than survive and get a mean infection.
A large metal door came down from the castle entrance, doubling as a bridge for us to cross.
As our cage bumped over the bridge's rough scrap work, we were wheeled in slowly before a tarp was planted over our cages, plunging us into darkness.
I could still hear everything happening outside of my cage. Rat men grunting and yelling orders, metallic clanging and pounding, and chains rattling. Finally, I heard a door slam down like the one from the front entrance. As my cage was rolled out, I heard what sounded like a ton of yelling and screaming from a massive crowd.
The further I was wheeled out, the louder they got, like they were crazed fans in a coliseum. Once my tarp was ripped off, I figured out why. I was completely correct.
Two rat men pulled me out of my cage and threw me to the floor, wheeling the cage away as they slammed the door behind them. I was right in the middle of a gigantic round arena. There were thousands of seats surrounding me, each filled with rat people of all ages, shapes, and sizes, jumping up and down as they booed me. Then, a grisly voice played throughout the entire stadium, wheezing with every couple of words.
"Welcome, one and all... to our widely anticipated... quickly arranged... battle of the century..."
I looked behind me, and sitting in a throne on his own platform amongst the crowd was what I assumed to be, the rat king. He was just as ugly as he looked in the slab. Two bulging bloodshot black eyes, a dirty flared nose seeping out snot, and a row of crooked yellow pointy teeth, sticking out from his mouth at unatural angles. Every time he spoke, white, yellow, and green foam and saliva blew from his mouth. His accent didn't help the saliva from flying or leaking down one of his many chins.
"Today we have... the mighty hero... Harlen, of Eagle Tree... who wanted to wage war... against our kind... as well as our dear friends... the Hawks."
The entire arena erupted in a flurry of booing and screaming insults that I won't repeat. The rat king slowly stood up, showing his flabby body and his dirty fur that looked like it should have been white but was more brown, black, and...yellow. I physically had to look away to keep myself from vomiting then and there.
"After he's down and out... we'll have fun with your... king... until then... let's have some fun... bring out the Igneadon!"
The rats in the stadium yelled in delight, cheering on what was coming from the door straight ahead of me. It was a long, rocky giant lizard with ruby eyes. Its tail was covered in spikes, and its mouth was clenched tightly shut. The door behind him shut, leaving me trapped in here with no hope of escape.
As I looked around the stadium, trying to find something I could use to fight, I noticed Rosslyn, the king, and the rest of the Lanti in cages, all hanging around the arena. A loud, volcanic roar brought my focus back to life. The Igneadon had its mouth wide open, and molten lava was spewing from its gullet, directly at me!
I leaped out of the way just in time to not get melted. Where I had just stood, there was a puddle of steaming lava, quickly hardening into black stone. This wasn't gonna be an easy fight, especially without a weapon or those atom peas I used on Vulcan.
As I scrambled to my feet, I ran towards a huge pile of rubble that came from the ceiling and started climbing it as fast as I could. The Igneadon slowly walked after me, swishing the lava in his mouth like it was mouthwash. As I made it to the top of the pile, I tried using the little time I had to fund something I could use to my advantage. There were a few piles of junk and some rubble, but I didn't find anything that could get me out of this situation. The only useful thing I spotted was a metal pipe that looked on the verge of snapping in half.
I was trying to think of a game plan to make it past the Igneadon in my way and grab the pipe from the pile of junk ahead of me when I heard a screech above me. Sure enough, when I looked up, Hawks had joined to watch, shaking cages as they flew overhead. There was one hawk that I could recognize from a mile away. Grey feathers, eyepatch over his left eye, and a stupid name. It was none other than Hawkmus, king of the owls.
If he wanted to fight me, he would've swept down or sent his battalion of feather buddies after me. He wasn't just here to watch. He was eyeing Rosslyn hungrily the whole time he was here. If I lost this fight, Rosslyn would be in a pellet on Zyloff's doorstep in the matter of a day. I couldn't let him eat Rosslyn, not when we came so far. I looked the Igneadon dead in the eyes as the roar of rat people chanting made my ears ring, then gathered all my courage and leaped.
Its mouth opened wide as lava began to spew out. My eyes became teary from the smoke as I flew through the air, the lava barely missing me as it bubbled viciously under the soles of my shoes. The Igneadon began to close its mouth as I landed on his snout. His grey rocky skin was hot to the touch, burning my feet through my shoes as I ran across his back. Right before he turned, I leaped off his back and hit the ground running.
The pipe was on the other side of the arena. Running from the Igneadon to the pule of junk was about the same as running from tower to tower when I fought Vulcan. I had my eyes locked on the pile, ready to run to it as fast as I possibly could, but out of nowhere, I felt something hard slam into my side, sending me flying.
I tried grabbing the ground slow my violent roll, but I was tumbling way too fast. My head was spinning, my body was aching, and I was rolling way too fast for it to stop anytime soon. I would've kept rolling, but I must have hit something in my head that made me remember something my dad taught me.
In the woods, there can be a lot of unexpected elevations. Hills, ditches, and dens were all around, and it was common to trip and fall down them. Rolling and tumbling downhill was pretty dangerous. If you hit your head too hard, you could get a concussion or worse. So my dad taught me what to do if I find myself tumbling and want to stop. All I had to do was stop. It wasn't the tumble that hurt people. It was resisting the tumble that hurt people.
As I rolled and tumbled like a ragdoll downhill, I let my body relax. Instead of grabbing at the ground, I let my arms go loose. Instead of kicking my feet to stop myself, I let my legs go limp. It still hurt being banged against the hard sandy floor, but I found myself slowing down.
Finally, I halted right before I hit the wall.
My legs and arms felt like jelly, and it hurt to move. It took my head a minute to stop spinning and pounding, but all in all, I was still okay. I shakily got up, eyeing the junk pile as the rocky lizard slowly walked towards me.
Without a second thought, I darted to the junk pile. The Igneadon roared and sprinted after me with its rocky tail waving, itching to slam into me again. My bones felt like they'd break if I sneezed the wrong way, and the roaring crowd wasn't helping. I couldn't tell if the rumbling in my gut was the vibrations of the crowd cheering for the Igneadon or my stomach getting ready to hurl.
The Igneadon spewed out lava in my path, hoping to trip me up or get me to stop, but I was running too fast to stop, so I had to do something crazy. Right before I reached the puddle, I leaped over it, only realizing how wide it was as I was soaring over it. The leap was at least seven feet, and the Igneadon looked ready to spit even more lava st me. I spread my legs as far as I possibly could, trying to make the long jump as the Igneadon spat more molten magma at me.
I thought I would be done for, but right before I got engulfed in a mouthful of steaming hot lava, something came in its way and took the blow entirely. As I landed, I looked behind me to see a hawk cover in lava, slowly sinking as it yelled in surprise. Another hawk swept down, trying to take a swipe at me before the Igneadon snapped it up from the sky. It was a free for all between me, the Igneadon, and the Hawks, all competing to kill me first.
Most of the Hawks ended up attacking the Igneadon, giving me enough time to run a fair distance without dealing with any conflict, at least up until the rest of the Hawks, saw me running from the fight. Any hawk that wasn't fighting the Igneadon flew down to try and attack me. Dodging the Hawks was a lot easier than dodging a giant rock lizards tail, but I had to duck, roll, and swat a lot more. Regardless, it left me a lot more alive.
I finally made it to the pile of junk and scraps. I could feel my ribs aching, and I had a few scratches, but other than that, I was in one piece. My hands wrapped around the cold steel of the pipe that stuck out from the scraps and tightened as hard as they could. Using every bit of might in my body, I pulled as hard as I could. The continuous boos and insults just made it harder. The louder they yelled, the weaker I got. Just like when I was getting positive support and got stronger, I was getting weaker with insults and slander.
I tried not to focus on them, but I couldn't help it. It kept pulling me down, like the very people yelling at me were getting in my way. That's when something I could never expect to happen happened. A rat man yelled at me, but it wasn't an insult. It was encouragement.
"Go, little man! Go!"
I had thought all of the rat people had been brainwashed by the rat king's words, but it seemed like some still had the right to opinion, even if it contradicted the king's wants or beliefs.
Then more people rooted for me, like they wanted something new to happen that wasn't just the opponent losing.
The praise made me stronger as I slowly pulled the pipe free like I was the King Arthur pulling the Excalibur from the stone. My grandpa once told me a story of a boy named Arthur, who was the most noble boy in the village, vowing to protect his land when he grew, even if he was scrawny. Once the village's king died, an unexpected death, a new monarch had to rise up and rule the kingdom. So the village people presented a challenge. In the village square, there was a rock with a stone, and in that stone was the sword of the most noble hero the kingdom ever knew. It was said that only the most noble could pull the sword.
People came from all across the land to try and pull the sword, but no matter their size, strength, or methods, it didn't budge. Then Arthur tried to pull the sword, and it came free without a budge. He became the king and ruled over the land until his passing. I was just like King Arthur, except for the being king part and the sword and stone part, and just about everything else. What mattered was that I pulled the pipe free and finally had an advantage in this fight.
The Igneadon was getting finished fighting the Hawks and was about to come my way, so I had to be prepared.
I bolted to the center of the arena as fast as I could, not wasting any time. There were piles of rubble from the ceiling everywhere, but the one I was focused on was the huge pile in the middle that looked like a mountain. If I could climb to the top, I could use the pipe to fight off the Hawks and dislodge rocks to hit the Igneadon.
The crowd screamed for me. Apparently, the rat man who had faith in me got through to other rat people, so for every ten or so insults, there was a word of encouragement or praise. As I made it to the mini mountain of rubble, I looked behind me. The Igneadon had finished swallowing the last hawk and had its eyes trained on me now. Without a moment of hesitation, I climbed up the mountain as fast as I could, leaving no room for stopping for even a moment.
On the way up, I whacked any hawk that wanted to get in my way or try to attack me. I was less than halfway up the mountain when the Igneadon began to climb after me, scooping up gravel and rocks on the way up to make their lava more potent to fry me with. As I climbed the mountain, I heard the fire lizard roar and just barely dodged a stream of lava aimed at where I just was. The Igneadon was a fast climber and could clear what I cleared at a much faster rate, covering more ground at a much faster pace. If I didn't fight back, it would be over for me.
I avoided another stream of lava and turned to stick my pipe in between two massive rocks, then closed my eyes to focus on the cheering voices of the crowd. At least a quarter or so of the arena was cheering for me in some way, which was more than enough to give me the strength to push my pipe through the rocks and knock them downhill, sending them tumbling towards the Igneadon. As I opened my eyes, I managed to see one slam into the Igneadons face, breaking open as it did. The other rock passed him. One rock was clearly enough to make him angry, though.
He climbed up the mountain even faster, spitting more lava than before. In his anger, he could barely aim, and just like Vulcan, he started smoking the more angry he got. I kept climbing the mountain, fighting off the Hawks, and shoving rocks downhill to smash into the Igneadon behind me. More and more slammed into him, slowing him down and even occasionally pushing him back, further and further down the mountain. Before long, I was almost at the very top of the rubble mountain, higher than anyone in the arena.
The Igneadon was steaming black smoke all over his body, beginning to glow orange. His lava was hotter than ever before, able to singe my eyebrows by just passing me. I had the perfect rock that I could break free and push down, causing a bunch of other rocks to follow, cascading down and pushing him under, but I would need more power than ever before. I took a stance and slammed my pipe through the crevice before using all my might to try and make it budge.
The rat people must have desperately wanted to see me do what I was planning to do because almost half the arena was cheering for me, chanting for me to push through. With every cheer, the rock began to move just a little bit. However, with every heckle and insult, the Igneadon got closer and closer. They were just a couple of steps away from drowning me in lava, but this rock was one good push away from covering him in rubble. I focused on the cheers as much as I could, being so close to pushing the rock down. But right before I could, something tackled me back, pulling me up the mountain and away from the pipe.
I grabbed at the mountain, trying to slow them down, but they were strong. I grabbed for anything but just came up with handfuls of rocks. Right before they took me to the very top, I grabbed a decent sized rock and chucked it up at them. They let out a squawk and dropped me. I stumbled to my feet and turned to face them, and it was none other than Hawkmus. Their sickly voice was like concrete scraping against concrete.
"Harlen... savior of Rosslyn... and the six kingdoms... how silly... you really thought this adventure would end... without me bringing that little rat... to Zyloff's feet."
He laughed like an asthmatic before sneering at me, trying to stall for as much time as possible as the Igneadon climbed the mountain. Four more hawks landed around me, surrounding me.
"I'm going to kill you... and then I'll have that rodent as a victory dinner... and once I have the power... of a fierce being capable of ruling the land... I'll burn every Eagle and rat I come across."
As he said that, the stadium went quiet. Hawkmus didn't correct himself or act like he didn't mean it. He just laughed before turning to face the outraged king.
"You didn't honestly think... I'd work with a filthy rat like you... or your people. Did you?"
As if waiting for Hawkmus to say those words, the rest of the Hawks swept down into the crowds and started holding down the rat people, keeping them from rebelling. This was insane. First, I was ready to fight against these rat people. Now my old enemy was doing it for me, and threatening to kill me and Rosslyn as he did. One last Hawk flew to Hawkmus' side with something in the talons. A sword. But not just any sword. My sword.
My sword was dropped at Hawkmus' feet... or talons. Without a moment of hesitation, he grabbed the blade with his talons and unsheathed it.
As the blade came out, I felt a flash of darkness pierce through me, and Hawkmus hadn't even attacked me with it yet. I felt dread creep in as my vision got dark. This must be how the Gothers felt when I slashed through them. But even with the sting of midnight coursing through my vision, I still felt brave, like I had a chance against him.
I planted my feet and looked the hawk dead in the eyes as they gripped my sword, and I couldn't help but smirk. The hawk just looked at me with a look of confusion and anger.
"What's so funny, boy?"
I matched his cocky grin from earlier and crossed my arms.
"Even though I'm surrounded, outnumbered, and don't have a weapon, I'll still win this fight and humiliate you in front of an entire kingdom of people."
Just as I finished, something I completely didn't plan for at all happened. Something I didn't even think could or would happen ever.