Moonflight by Gill Lewis

Author:Gill Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: David Fickling Books Ltd
Published: 2023-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Snake Street

The creature that emerged from the shadows was not a giant monster, but a rat riding on the back of a large spotted cat. The cat wasn’t fat and furry like Marmalade, this one was sleek, rippling with pure muscle. Its green eyes glittered. It wore a leather bridle with tassels of gold, and a gleaming saddle. And astride the saddle rode the rat, in leather armour and a helmet with a plume of feathers.

‘Felinrats are just rats, like us,’ whispered Nimble-Quick.

The cat’s ears swivelled towards them and Nimble-Quick covered her mouth with her paw.

The cat was sniffing the air and prowling down the alleyway.

‘Show yourself,’ said the rat riding the cat. ‘There is no hiding place.’

‘They know we’re here,’ squeaked Tilbury.

Obsidian drew his sword and Marfaire stood in front of Tilbury and Nimble-Quick, protecting them.

The skinny rat stared at them briefly, then flicked its tail and was gone, sprinting down the street.

The cat bounded after it, its feet making no noise at all. The felinrat drove the cat on, digging sharp spurs into its sides, screeching strange yowling sounds to the cat.

But only Tilbury could understand the Sphinx it was saying, the language of cats. And the words the felinrat called chilled him to the bone.

‘Kill, kill, kill.’

The cat pounced, picked up the skinny rat, and in one swift movement bit down on its head, and it hung dead and limp in its mouth.

Tilbury covered his eyes to hide from the brutal moment.

The felinrat pulled on the reins and swung the cat around. ‘Hear me, hear me,’ it shouted. ‘Death to the enemies of the Immortal Emperor. Death to the Rebel Mothers.’

Tilbury became aware of rats in gutters and roof spaces, all watching, all silent, all drawing back in revulsion at the skinny rat’s death.

Marfaire, Tilbury, Nimble-Quick and Obsidian edged back into the deep shadows as the felinrat rode his cat past. Tilbury couldn’t help looking at the emerald eyes of the cat. They held no warmth, only the cold-blooded gaze of a killer.

‘We need to hide,’ whispered Obsidian.

‘We have already been seen,’ whispered Marfaire, nodding in the direction of a broken door. A large she-rat was watching them. Her eyes darted left and right and then she scuttled over, her tail twitching. Five others followed and stood behind her, looking up and down the alleyway.

‘State your business,’ said the rat.

‘We’re looking for the Traveller’s Rest,’ said Marfaire.

The rat pulled back Tilbury’s hood and clicked her tongue. Then she glared at Marfaire and Obsidian. ‘I’m guessing these two ratlings are no kin of yours? No one would set their own ratlings on the streets of Felinport.’

‘We are visitors,’ said Marfaire. ‘Passing through. We need safe passage to the City in the Clouds. These young ratlings are my wards. I have been entrusted by their mother for safe passage.’

The rat glanced back at the other she-rats and they whispered among each other. She turned back to Marfaire. ‘I’ll take you as far as Snake Street,’ she said. ‘Go to the Traveller’s Rest and wait there.

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