The Mice Of Modseep (standard:fantasy, 30730 words)
Author: Finn Younger	Added: Jun 27 2004	Views/Reads: 3673/2343	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Times are dark.This is a legend about animals.The race of rats have found thier new leader. They will stop at nothing to drive the mice off the planet. So war breaks out, the fate of mice depends on just two mice who follow destiny, its the age of death

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

across the endless sand. Then it struck him!!!! He had been travelling 
over sand for about an hour. He needed water and sleep. The only 
problem as that he could not see any water and he could not sleep on 
the sand, it would be too hot. Slowly Rook padded along the sandy 
ground. Nightfall came. Poor Rook was sitting in the shade of a pile of 
rocks. Rook, even though he didn't know it, was lucky to have any shade 
at all to rest in. He tried sleeping on his back, he trine sleeping on 
his belly, he even tried to sleep standing up but it was no good, he 
would never go into deep sleep. Occasionally Rook would fall asleep but 
only to wake up an hour or so later. It was a tough night, he had no 
dreams or no nightmares his sleep was thoughtless.                      
                                                                        
                Next day one thirsty tired brown and white mouse 
strolled across a big stretch of sand.  The next three days where the 
same, walk in the early morning, sleep in the afternoon, and then walk 
during the evening. It had rained once. Rook had gathered water in 
pebbles that had small holes in them. Rook carried a small pile of the 
water filled pebbles with him on his journey. The next evening was very 
weird. It happened as Rook was walking. Loud noises snapped him out of 
his daydream. “Fatty!! Look what we have here” The speaker was a mouse. 
He was dressed in gold armour and had a spear with a flinthead; 
strapped to his back He was mounted on a white rabbit. They're where 
three other mice like him, all mounted on white rabbits. A tall grey 
mouse dismounted and slowly walked up Rook. All eyes stared at Rook. “ 
Who are you and what is your business here” the mouse said sternly. “ 
My name is Rook I used to be a slave for Eagles I have no idea where I 
am or who you are” It came out of Rook's mouth so fast. “The Eagles 
eh...” said then mouse who Rook assumed was called Fatty. “ Yes, the 
Eagles” Rook muttered. Every body stood still for a few seconds. Then 
Fatty walked back to his rabbit and got on it. When he was on his 
rabbit Fatty said “ whiskers” A small thin white mouse responded, “ Yes 
sir” “Let this Rook person ride on the back of your mount”. The 
mystified Rook got on a white rabbit and immediately Rook was as comfy 
as he's ever been before.  He could study Whiskers better now. They 
rode very fast into the night not really speaking at all... 

The five mice had been riding for around one hour till they reached what
looked like a lake. A lake!!!!!!!!! Rook leapt of the rabbit and ran 
towards the water edge. At that moment Fatty leapt of his rabbit to and 
dived towards Rook. “No Rook!!!!” Fatty landed on Rook and knocked him 
to the ground. “ Do not drink from the lake, it is cursed” Fatty got up 
and went back to his rabbit. Rook remained on the ground eyes shut. “ 
Look Rook, there's plenty of food and water where were going”. Whiskers 
said gently. Another mouse interrupted Whiskers. “Sir the ferry's here” 
A few logs where tied together to make a raft, A grey mouse dressed in 
rags was onboard the raft pushing it along with paddle. The five mice 
rode onto the raft and dismounted. Rook studied Whiskers more 
carefully. He looked around Rook's age. His chestnut coat looked the 
same as Rook's.  The only big difference was that he was wearing gold 
plated armour. “Whiskers?” “Yes” “Why are you all wearing armour?” Know 
one spoke for a few seconds and then Whiskers looked at Fatty. Fatty 
nodded. “Well this place were we're going its where all the animals of 
the country come if there hurt, or in danger or if they're a patriot. 
You see Rook, not every animal gets along with each other. There are a 
group of animals, which are the Rats, they go round the country 
attacking and killing at free will.” At this point the ferryman 
shivered. Whiskers continued “ Any way we only have to dress in armour 
and patrol and stuff lately because something terrible happened. The 
Rats have declared war!!!” A small clap came from Fatty. “ Enough of 
the stories, Rook come with me, Muddles, Whiskers and Damsel, go report 
to captain Masher.” The ferry docked at a marble jetty and all the mice 
went their different was. Rook was stuck with Fatty. He was about to 
ask were Whiskers had gone when his eyes fell upon the fort in front of 
him. Its walls that where made of a gold marble colour, spread for ages 
then the walls turned. On the walls were battlements and in those 
battlements stood mice, standing tall, and a spear in their hand. 
Rook's eyes then focused in front of him. There was a big solid looking 
door made out of wood and carved on the door were the words. Modseep. 
“Wow!!” exclaimed Rook. The two mice walked up to the door. A guard 
looked at Rook and Fatty then shouted “ Patrol one is back!!” The guard 
then faced us and yelled from the battlements “ you can come in!!” Two 
mice entered the fort. Rook's eyes kept focusing on armed guards and 
patrols. “Welcome back master Fatty, the king wants to see you” A small 
plump mouse spoke; dark brown hair crowded his face. “ Thank you Doger” 
Rook followed Fatty, The young mouse found it hard to keep it up with 
him. They entered a torch light tunnel. Rook had a lot of questions but 
he sensed the seriousness in the situation so he kept his mouth shut. 
They reached a big grand door, it looked at least five metres tall 
(that's loads for a mouse!!!) Four guards stood outside the door, each 
was dressed in a green robe, had a spear and a shield with the royal 
initial on it, and also wore a yellow belt, which had a few knives 
strapped to it. “ State your name and your what you seek” bellowed a 
guard. “ I am Fatty and I wish to introduce my associate to the great 
king Magisteus III.” Rook, copying Fatty said “I am Rook and I seek the 
approval of your majesty.” Another guard said,  “You may enter now” 

Two mice entered through the grand doors. Beyond them lay a marble
hallway with holes in the walls for guards to stand in. There were 
eight guards in total, four on each side. They where dressed 
identically to the guards outside the door. Fatty started to move 
forward towards the end of the hall, towards the king. Rook followed 
trying not to show his nervousness. When they reached the king (it 
seemed to take ages to reach him) Fatty took a big bow and Rook 
followed suit. “Stand Fatty, stand Rook” His voice was frail. Rook and 
Fatty stood and looked upon their king. His coat looked like it used to 
be gleaming white but now it was grey. The king sat on a tall red 
chair. “So Fatty, who is this mouse” Fatty then explained the story 
that Rook had told him and then waited to see the king's verdict. The 
king replied slowly. “Is this true Rook?” “Yes my lord it is true” Rook 
mumbled sheepishly. “Then we must take action! Fatty please leave the 
room” Fatty gave a quick bow then scurried out the door. “Young mouse, 
have you ever desired to take revenge on the animals that harmed your 
kind.” “No.” “Well let me make a proposal to you Rook.” There was a 
long silence. “You can be one of us, join the Modseep mice.  We would 
put a roof over your head and protect you on one condition” Rook spoke 
automatically “ And what condition would that be my lord?” The king 
replied, “Join Modseep's army and help protect us.” Rook had been 
expecting this; he shuffled and then knelt down “sorry my great lord, 
the rats have done nothing to me.” Rook stood up, took a bow then ran 
out of the hall. Fatty was waiting outside. “Well, how did it go?” “I 
don't want to kill rat, they've done nothing to me!!” Fatty started 
walking down the tunnel, Rook followed close behind. When the two mice 
were out the long tunnel they stopped.  Rook admired the fort. The 
inside f the walls were the same gold marble colour as the outside. 
Marble archways led deep into the fort. The two mice kept walking till 
they reached part of the fort that was a few minutes away from the main 
bit of the fort. 

There, Rook was glad to meet Whiskers and the two other mice that had
rescued him from the beech. They were sitting on top of white rabbits. 
“Ever fancied a ride?” said Whiskers. Rook looked at Fatty “It will 
clear your head' Fatty said. “Fine” said Rook The other four mice 
grinned. ` Welcome to patrol one!' Whiskers walked a rabbit over to 
Rook. He took rook through the basics of riding. He was finishing: “So 
always lean forward and always remember you are armed so you don't cut 
yourself with your own weapon.” Rook got on his rabbit he took it round 
a field once then tested his weapons on dummies. Half an hour later 
patrol one rode out of the gate captain Fatty leading the group. Rook 
asked Fatty “ So Fatty where are we going?” Fatty replied `You shall 
address me as Captain Fatty, and as where we are going, it is for you 
to show us' “You shall guide us to the place where the animals attacked 
you” Rook muttered, “I'll try sir” The patrol left the stable heading 
at top speed, Fatty leading. It took around half an hour to reach the 
jetty. The Patrol got on and dismounted like before except now Rook was 
wearing gold plated armour and had a spear. The ferry ride was over 
soon and the mice reached The Dunes. They got off the ferry and the 
ferryman disappeared into the distance. Now Rook was back here he could 
see how easy it would be to get lost in this sandy country. Everybody 
looked at Rook. He studied the landscape and headed off to the east 
hopping to skip the main part of the journey. They rode for around 
another two hours then stopped, and each mouse took out a flask of 
water from a bag that was strapped to their rabbit. They also shared 
some biscuits, which would fill them up. Ten minutes later the mice 
were off again. They had reached the border of The Dunes after nine 
hours. They now faced a new country: The Water Fields. The grass was 
long and the group struggled to ride fast. Finally after six more hours 
the group of mice reached a hillock. Rook told them to dismount. They 
did. The mice walked up to the edge of the Hillock and peered over “Oh 
my bloody god!!!” 

Fatty had described the scene well with the words “Oh my bloody god!!”
Bodies' lay everywhere. Blood covered the ground where the carcasses 
didn't. Limbs and heads lay on the ground in some places. Fatty started 
walking down to the death hole. “Where are you going?” asked Rook. “We 
are here on business. So we must do business.” Fatty started examining 
bodies and poking them. He once dipped his finger in a pool of blood 
and tasted the blood. “Muddles and Matilda come here. Help examine the 
bodies. We may be able to save some.” Whiskers and Rook stood at the 
top of the hillock watching the mice in horror. “These claw marks are 
strange” Fatty commented then continued: “they don't really look like a 
bird did this, the cuts are to clean and deep.” The mice searched other 
bodies but now examining how they died. There where several other 
bodies that where strangely scarred. Fatty said, “It was not a bird 
that did this indeed, but what could have caused these horrible 
scares?” “Ah!!!!!!” A yell came from a small burrow near the bloody 
clearing. Fatty, Muddles and this time, Whiskers and Rook ran over to 
the yell. They found Matilda in a cave looking at a sight none of them 
would forget. Mice were sitting and lying on the ground, some lay 
beside a fire. But they all had one thing in common. They were all 
dead!! No one spoke then Fatty broke the silence “Come with me I have 
something very important to discuss with you” The disgusted mice 
briskly walked out of the cave. They walked back to the rabbits and 
Fatty gave an explanation. “ When I saw the weird markings on most of 
the bodies I was suspicious.   Then when Matilda found the cave it all 
made sense.” All of patrol one stared at Fatty eager to hear more. “ 
This is what happened. When the crow attacked, soon after young Rook 
had fled, the crow departed. Probably around Quarter of the mice 
remained alive. They all went and hid in the cave. Next evening or day, 
another group of animals turned up. These animals weren't hungry. But 
they killed the animals anyway.” All the mice went a pale colour. Fatty 
finished his explanation with “hope you all aren't too fond of Rats!” 
Fatty leapt on to his rabbit. “Lets go!” The other mice mounted their 
rabbits and they set off, this time slower than before and Fatty was 
leading. The mice soon got exhausted after a few hours. They set camp 
among deep grass and cuddled up to their rabbits. They took turns in 
watch. Rook was first. He stood in his armour for three hours and 
watched the stars. Then he went into deep sleep. Next morning the sky 
was a pale white colour and it was starting to get a bit cold. Patrol 
one had covered a lot of ground in the morning. They were on the 
Northeast border of The Water Fields. Fatty had been leading. He said 
he was following a trail. But nobody else claimed to see any trail. A 
few nights passed, three to be precise. It was evening. The stars 
shined in the sky. Rook was on guard duty. It was nearly going to be 
time to switch the night guards when Rook heard a faint rustle in the 
grass ahead. Rook crept forward to find in horror that he was staring 
at two rats. They both had white coats and bright red eyes. They were 
wearing tatty robes and one was armed with a sword and one had a bow. 
The tallest one had a piece of meat slung over its back. Rook nearly 
screamed. But he stopped before he made a noise. If he ran back would 
they hear him? No. Rook didn't want to risk it. Then one of the rats 
spoke. “They will all die. If we manage to capture Modseep, we will 
rule the lands. So we have sent an army to The Dunes. We have to scout 
ahead first though.” That was enough for Rook. Rook took the risk and 
ran back to camp and as quietly as he could, he awoke the rest and told 
them what he had seen. 

Fatty believed Rook. They packed up as quickly as possible then mounted
their rabbits. This time they all kept their heads down low. They rode 
and rode then rode some more all night till the sun rose. They stopped 
and made camp. The mice were deep in the Water Fields now. They where 
heading Southwest, towards The Dunes. A few frantic days passed. The 
mice, riding faster than they ever has before. Fatty Staying alert and 
watching all the mice. After a tiresome ten hours on rabbit back, the 
mice reached the dunes. They got off their rabbits and hid them in 
circle of very tall and thick grass. Patrol one strolled out of the 
grass to the mark where the sand begins. They would get a good view of 
the ride ahead of them. “Rats!!!” A group of seven rats where sitting 
round a fire. They had dark grey coats. Some had metal rings pierced 
through their noses and ears. The curios mice had been watching too 
long. “Mice!!” One mouse pointed at Fatty The mice immediately ducked 
out of sight and they all sprinted back to the rabbits and got their 
weapons out. If they did not kill the Rats, Those Rats would let the 
others know where the mice were. So using rabbits would be too noisy. 
Rook had had little fighting lessons but still he brandished a sword in 
his hand like the rest of the mice. Patrol one took up positions and 
waited for the Rats. A tense few seconds past then Matilda's eyes 
spotted a grey leg sticking out from behind a bush. Matilda raised a 
spear and hurled it at the leg. “ Ah” a short noise came from behind 
the bush and out came a Rat holding a sword. His leg was badly 
bleeding. Three more rats all brandishing swords, Charged at the mice. 
Fatty stepped forward and two swords met. Fatty's leg connected with 
the rats' stomach and the rat fell to the ground. Fatty's sword came 
down on the rat. Matilda managed to decapitate the rat that was limping 
towards him. A rat faced Rook. The rat was way taller than the small 
mouse. The rat brought his sword down onto Rook. Rook dodged it and 
managed a quick glance at the others: Fatty was dispatching his second 
foe; Muddles and Matilda were struggling to inflict a wound on a big 
fat Rat that was armed with a club. And Whiskers was nursing a wound on 
his arm. Rook looked back at his own target. He was circling Rook, 
blood coming from his mouth. “Ahh!” The rat charged Rook. Rook dropped 
to the ground and drove his sword into the Rat's legs. The Rat stumbled 
then fell to the ground. Rook ran over to Whiskers to check if he was 
ok. His arm was bleeding but it didn't look serious. The four mice with 
swords in their hands slowly met in the middle of the chaos. 
Back-to-back they waited for more Rats to come. Two Rats ran into the 
clearing. They charged at the mice. Muddles stuck his pike out the 
circle and it went through one of the Rats. Rook brought his sword down 
on the next Rat. The mice jumped and turned around to see a Rat riding 
a weasel. “Charge!!” he yelled The weasel's mouth was wide open; it was 
full of Sharp teeth. The mice dived to the sides. Fatty ran towards the 
weasel with two swords waving them around. The Rat on the weasel was 
about to javelin Fatty, when Rook sent a spear through the air it 
missed the Rat and stuck into the weasel's body. The weasel gave a cry 
and started to hop and leap around the place. The Rat nearly got flung 
off! Matilda, Muddles and fatty Formed a circle round the mad weasel. 
They all chucked their swords at the weasel's body. It worked 
effectively. The weasel dropped its head low to avoid the swords. At 
that moment Rook sprinted towards the weasel and jumped on its head. 
The rat gave a startled cry, then dropped his pike and drew a sword. 
The weasel sensing a mouse on its back, stopped dead still so to let   
its rider kill the mouse. The fight began. Rook moved forward. The Rat 
wasn't sure what to do. The Rat walked forward and then struck the 
mouse. Rook blocked the blow with his sword. The power of the blow 
knocked Rook off his feet. He landed on the tough skin of the weasel. 
The rat was walking forward, sword in his hand. Fatty took action 
immediately. He Muddles and Matilda ran at the weasel's legs. They all 
pulled out daggers and chopped at the weasel's legs. The weasel 
couldn't stand any more pain. It collapsed to the ground. The Rat lost 
its balance and fell to the ground, where Fatty finished him off. The 
four mice stepped back proudly. Fatty began tending to the other mice's 
wounds. Rook stopped dead in his tracks and yelled “Where's Whiskers!!” 
All the mice stood up, alert. They searched the area, half wishing to 
find Whiskers playing a trick on them. But Whiskers was not found. 

The mice had to hide all the Rat bodies. So they took all the bodies and
lay them aside a few metres away from the scene. Every one was helping 
except Rook. Whiskers had been his best friend, one of his only 
friends. Now he was dead. Tears rolled down Rooks cheek and then they 
joined the sea of many more. The sun would rise soon. The other mice 
were trying to all carry the weasel away. Rook decided to join them 
this once. “3.2.1. Lift!” They lifted the Weasel up it was heavy. Rooks 
eyes caught sight of something under the weasel. It was a body!!!! 

The mice buried Whiskers under ground and carved on a tree beside it:   
               whiskers A wise and noble warrior The mice had no time 
to grief over the loss. After a quick prayer they had to be back on 
their way to Modseep. They found their rabbits and set off. Progress 
was slower. They had to ride with one extra rabbit. Fatty had decided 
not to go straight to the ferry. That was just one group of rats. There 
are probably more lined up around that area. So the mice rid through 
the Water Fields for six hours till they reached The Dunes. Here they 
all checked their armour and weapons. They also ate a little and drank 
a bit of water. Then With Fatty leading, the four mice set off through 
the sand less country of The Dunes. There was a strong wind that blew 
sand in their faces so that slowed progress down. It seemed like nature 
itself was trying to prevent the Mice to reach Modseep. But after two 
days they reached the ferry and the ferryman greeted them. They where 
ferried across the water to Modseep. When they got on to dry land.  
Fatty told someone to take the rabbits back to the stables. Fatty, 
Rook, Matilda and Muddles rushed   through the king's tunnel to the 
grand door. “State your name and what you seek,” bellowed a guard. 
Fatty spoke  “ I am Captain Fatty and these are my men, I wish to warn 
the king about news from The Rats” “Fine, enter now!” The group started 
to move forward when the guards stepped in front of the doorway. 
“Sorry, only Fatty is aloud through here” Fatty walked through the 
door. He ran up to his king and gave a bow. “Sir I bring news of the 
Rats” The king said, “continue” Fatty explained about the Rats killing 
all the mice. And the conversation, that Rook had over heard.  then the 
battle, and the sad death of Whiskers. At the end the king gave a great 
sigh. Then said “ I have been expecting this moment for many years, 
don't worry Fatty, I will take care of them” Fatty bowed then made for 
the door and then the king said “ Thank you” Fatty met Rook, Muddles 
and Matilda   outside the door. Fatty told them what the king had said 
and then told them to go and relax. A maid showed Rook to his quarters. 
He shared the room with three other mice. They're where three 
mattresses made of foam. A wooden table and four chairs stood in the 
middle of the room. A small fireplace in the corner heated it and 
candles gave off the light. Three days passed and Rook played with his 
friends, and Fatty gave him some for fighting lessons. 

When the king had said `I will take care of it' He should of said “ I
will cause many deaths” Rook was one of the mice warriors chosen to go 
to fight the Rats. He was in a boat with twenty other mice. There were 
five other boats like his. His commander was Fatty. The plan was one of 
the boats would row up to the shore of The Dunes. If an army of 
bloodthirsty Rats was there, a mouse would set off a flare and the 
other boats would go in. All the mice in Rooks boat were sweating. They 
all wore gold armour with the king's initials on it. A bright light 
crowded the sky. A couple of mice pointed to it. But most of them 
thought the flare as a signal of death. When rooks boat was slowly 
making its way to shore, they all stared at the scene. Two other boats 
had landed. As soon as the door opened of one of the boats, a volley of 
arrows flew out from behind a thin wooden wall. The arrows killed half 
the mice in the boat. The rest of the mice ran forward through the 
water, trying to get to shore, when another volley of arrows mowed them 
down. Dead bodies' lay on the water, the water was red. As another 
boats door opened mice poured out. You had to wade for about five steps 
till you're on dry land.  Again all the mice got mowed down and then 
joined the dead in the water. The mice had to break the wall down. They 
were losing men all ready and they hadn't even seen a rat. Fatty caught 
every ones attention “When this boat lands, if you die, you will be 
dying for mouse kind!!” then he continued. “ So, when we land run to 
the nearby clump of rocks over there” He pointed in a direction. The 
boat docked, then the door opened. A volley of arrows came towards the 
mice but they were lucky and only a few got hit. They reached a clump 
of rocks where they would hopefully be out of sight. The plan was quite 
simple. A squad of seven brave mice would run up to the wall with 
flaming torches in both their hands. On the other side, Fatty would 
lead a group of mice up to the tower. The arrows had to fire at one 
thing or the other. 

The signal came and seven brave mice on a suicide mission ran up to the
wall. At the same time Fatty led his men around the side of the wall. 
The arrows flew into the sky, and then came down on the seven mice. A 
few remained on their feet. Fatty's mice were almost at the wall when a 
mouse with a flaming torch reached the wall and hurled the torches into 
the wood before he got shot. The wall went up in flames and screams 
could be heard from behind the wall. The mice all smiled. Then stopped 
as a Mink strolled out from behind the grand wall. The mink had a 
wooden platform built on top of it and lots of Rats with bows stood on 
the Mink. All the mice seemed to freeze. No wonder they had to hide it. 
A group of mice ran at the Mink, the mink lowered its head then ate the 
mice in one quick move. “ Ahh!!” “Help!!” The mice started to flee back 
to the boats, tripping over each other in the panic. “Don't go!!” Fatty 
yelled to the terrified men. At that moment another boat landed on the 
shore. A squad of archers got out and started to cover the Fleeing 
Mice. Rook, and a few of his men left standing with him, looked at 
Fatty. Fatty made up his mind. “Back to the boats!!” He yelled. His men 
just managed to hear him over the cries of the battle. All the mice 
fled back to the boats. The wounded got abandoned and the archers were 
left standing on the shore covering the mice. After all the boats had 
left the archers boat came. A few archers boarded the boat. A volley of 
flaming arrows flew through the sky and landed on the boat. The archers 
were stranded. The archers realised this straight away, but still 
fought and died for their kind. 

The king had been told what had happened. He took no time to come up
with a decision. A message was sent around Modseep that all mice would 
meet at the grand hall in two hours. The hospital in Modseep was busy, 
but not full. Most of the wounded got left on the battlefield. It was a 
mean thing to do, but many other mice would be dead if a rescue mission 
was attempted. Two hours Passed and all the mice had gathered in the 
Grand Hall. The hall was massive; it could fit up to Nine hundred mice 
in it, then another four hundred in the balconies. The balcony was 
taken up by the wounded. The king walked on to a stage and began his 
speech. “Welcome mice of Modseep. I will be very quick, because we need 
to save time. As some of you know, the rats have declared war. They are 
preparing to siege Modseep.” Tears came out of some eyes. The king 
continued “ Sadly, we have lost some brave mice, but let me assure you, 
they died how they wanted to, fighting to save Modseep. Any way, the 
Rats army is more powerful than we thought. It's not safe here. We ask 
all women and children to go to the hidden islands.” At this point a 
lot of women started to cry. “ Accompanying you will be one of our 
recent promoted captains, Captain Rook” Some mice politely tried to 
clap, but most were drowning in tears. A small sized mouse with a 
chestnut coat came out on to the stage. Rook said “ we leave at sunset, 
meet outside the west gate. Don't bring too much luggage.” Then the 
king and Rook walked out the door. It took a while for all the mice to 
depart from the hall. They all went to their rooms and packed some 
important belongings. Fatty, met Rook in the corridor. Fatty said, 
“Well done Rook, I'm sure you will lead the expedition well, and 
remember I'll always be here if you need me” Fatty gave a smile then 
hugged Rook. Fatty walked out the door. 

It was two minuets to sun set; the land was crowded with Women and
children. They where boarding boats. Eventually, twenty boats left 
Modseep, all loaded full of twenty women or children. Soon after the 
mice had left, another seven boats of Modseep warriors were sent to 
escort the mice. The air seemed to be full of cries and shouts. The 
journey to the Hidden Islands was long and depressing. All The Hidden 
Island was, was a hill. But many years ago, some mice had made a 
network of tunnels and caves inside the hill. There where two of them, 
One island to the North and one to the south. The island to the south 
has not been explored lately, so the mice all went to the same island. 
They were called the Hidden island because they hid behind Modseep. It 
was very hard to see the islands from the coast. The soldiers went in 
first and put up torches on the wall. Then the mice were shown to their 
rooms. A room consisted of a bed, a table and a chair. The Modseep 
warriors and Rook lived on the top floor of the island. Life went on; 
not very much of the outside world was seen. It was winter; outside was 
cold, so most mice stayed in the cave. The only down side of living 
there was that the mice weren't allowed to have fires. Fires make 
smoke. And smoke alerts Rats. The mice had been on the island for five 
days. Rook was waiting outside, in the cold. The boat with a load food 
in it was coming to shore. The mouse saluted Rook and then unloaded the 
food. When he was leaving the mouse said “one more thing sir, its 
urgent. The king told me to warn you that the rats are going to attack 
the island; I don't know how the rats know where to come but I'm just a 
messenger” The mouse leapt back onto the boat, gave a salute, then 
left. The women and children where not told what was going on. If they 
asked the answer would be “ Battle drills” The defence was made better 
and there was always a mouse on watch. 

One cold winters day two boats appeared. The mouse on watch cave a cry
because they were not food boats. The boats fitted about ten Rats in 
them. They had a spear sticking out the front of the boat. The spear 
had a mouse's head on it. Three other boats appeared, identical to the 
first one. The boats where spread out. They dragged something between 
them. It was big raft with walls. The raft was tied to a boat on each 
side. The Rats stopped their boats just off shore of the islands. At 
this point Rook managed to return to the look out point with some 
guards. “Oh my god!!” The Rats where standing on what effectively was a 
floating floor. It had small walls round the side. The boats had a roof 
now; it was made out of wood. Archers stood behind the walls. A thin 
bight white rat stood on the platform and said “Hello there little 
mice, look what we Rats have built, Its nice isn't it?” Another rat, 
taller, pushed the rat aside then said “Mice, surrender now or we will 
kill you!” 

The mice remained silent. Then Rook, remembering that he was in charge
said “ And what makes you think we won't just shoot you?” The Rats all 
laughed then pointed at two more boats coming through the fog. “Oh no!” 
The boats where full of mice. They were badly hurt and cut. They were 
all silent. The boats with mice in them docked. The tall Rat continued, 
“ If you shoot, they die!” Rook went back down to the caves. Two guards 
remained watch. Rook went to his room and began writing a letter.       
To the king.                                                            
                                                              We 
settled in well. Rats have appeared.  We are in big trouble. They have 
hostages. Please can I have more mice? Women and children have not been 
informed yet. How is it going for you? 

Rook gave the letter to a warrior who had to try to deliver it. Rook
would try to distract the Rats just in case. He went up to the look out 
tower. “ Rats, on what terms will you release the hostages!” Rook 
yelled. A rat fired his an arrow. it stuck into the rock beside Rook. 
The big grey rat said, “That was a warning shot, next time address me 
sir!” Rook saw a mouse in a boat leave the island out of the corner of 
his eye. “The hostages will be released if you unarm and surrender!” 
Rook walked indoors and tried to go to sleep and forger everything that 
was going on. The next three days Rook was trying to figure out a way 
to sneak Modseep warriors into the island. A knock came on the door. 
“Come in” A mouse walked in. He produced a letter from his bag and 
handed it to rook. Then left. Rook opened the letter. 

To Rook, I cannot help you. I am not willing to risk lives of mice,
which are trying to reach the islands. Modseep is under heavy attack. 
Sorry. You're on you own. Yours Faithfully Magisteus III 

In those few seconds after he had read the letter, Rook had decided what
to do. He had called five of the most important mice on the island, to 
come to hear what he had to say. A meeting began. They discussed about 
making a peace treaty, or even one mouse said “Let them kill the 
hostages!” Two hours later, Rook was sitting opposite a white mouse. 
Rook said “So, sergeant Higgs, do you know what to do?” Sergeant Higgs 
replied “Sir, you shall sail to Modseep. I will try to keep the Rats 
distracted. You shall be back in around a day.” “Good” Rook concluded 
then left to go to the boats. Rook got in a boat. He was nervous. If he 
died, he would not be able to get help so many others would die. He 
started to row his way to Modseep, through the late night water. The 
journey must have seemed to take ages. Rook peered out the boat. In the 
distance he saw lots of boats with Rats onboard. Finally Rook reached 
Modseep. When his boat docked, it was searched and so was he. Rook 
finally reached the town centre that now looked completely different. 
Weapons and objects and rubble lay all over the ground. Rook went up to 
a mouse “I'm looking for captain Fatty?” The mouse replied. “He has 
been put in charge of the main gate, he will be there now” Rook ran 
down a flight of steps then along a tunnel and he reached the main 
gate. There he saw Fatty lined up with other guards. He was shouting 
orders to them. Rook went up to Fatty and nudged him. “Hey, Rook, what 
are you doing here!” Rook asked Fatty if he could speak to him in 
private. “Sure” was his reply. They walked to a straw hut and entered 
it. “So Rook, why are you here?” Rook explained. He started with the 
Rats. Then went on to mention the hostages. “Oh my bloody god!” 
interrupted Fatty. Rook then went on to explain how the king did not 
wish to supply any more troops to him.                                  
                           “ All the women and children will die if we 
do not get more mice!” said Rook. Fatty said, “I just wish we could 
find a solution to the war against the Rats. I've been thinking all the 
time. We've tried a peace treaty but they won't accept!” Fatty was 
silent, then he said “I am not that surprised that the king has refused 
your request. Lately he has been acting weirdly. Some say he has gone 
mad! Personally I do think he is mad, but keep that to your self.” 
Fatty made for the door. “ Where are you going?” asked Rook Fatty 
replied  “The Hidden Islands.” 

Rook and Fatty where on board a boat. This time they where on board a
stolen Rat boat. Plenty of the Rats boats had been stolen. They set 
sail, Rook told Fatty the Rats position in greater detail than before. 
They sailed for around one hour, then, to their horror they saw another 
boat. Now they could see the Hidden Islands. A Rat stood up from the 
deck of his boat. Fatty quickly grabbed a cloth and draped it round his 
body. The Rat could only see the outline of Fatty. His mouse features 
were cloaked. Rook was ducked down, out of sight. “Where are you 
going?” Yelled the Rat. He continued, “ Go to the other side of the 
island and report to captain Folly!” Fatty gave a quick nod, and then 
changed the course of the boat. “ Now were buggered” Whispered Rook. 
Rook laid low, While Fatty rowed. In a few minutes more Rat boats 
appeared. It was dark and the Rats did not notice anything unusual. 
Twenty minutes passed. Another Rat, for going the wrong way had shouted 
at Fatty. Finally Fatty turned a corner and the two mice where out of 
sight. They studied the landscape around the, the mice where on the far 
side of the island. It would take at least a day to hike back to the 
entrance. They did not have that time. They jumped off the boat onto 
the hillside. Rook started to walk up the hill, and Fatty followed. The 
mice searched for an entrance for half an hour. Fatty had been walking 
and he had fell in a hole. The hole branched off into tunnels. The mice 
picked a tunnel and headed into the mountain. They walked for hours, 
sometimes going in circles. But they never got far. Fatty saw it first. 
The mice entered a cave and they saw the last thing they expected to 
see. It was a living thing. It looked just bigger than a full-grown 
mouse. It was cloaked in a brown cloak, and a long hood covered its 
face. Rook started to have doubts about it being living, and then it 
spoke. Its voice did not seem feminine, but it did not seem masculine 
either. “So Rook, son of Helena, and Fatty, son of Dori. You have found 
me.” Fatty said, “ what do you mean by, you have found me. We weren't 
looking for you whoever you are!” The figure replied “Yes you where 
looking for me, you even said yourself: I've been looking for a 
solution for the last few days. That's what you said” The mouse thought 
back. That was one thing he had said to Rook earlier today. Rook, who 
had been keeping quiet, said “ Hang on, how do you know what Fatty 
said?” The figure replied “ That's not important now” “ What is 
important then?” asked Rook The figure continued “Well, you've found 
the solution. I know a way to prevent the Rats from killing all you 
mice.” The two mice walked closer to the figure. Then the figure 
continued, “ You must go to Dark Wood forest. Ask for Torlina. She will 
guide you from there.” “And what if we don't believe you?” asked Fatty 
The figure replied,   “Its simple, the mice will be slaves of the Rats 
and Modseep will be no more.” Rook thought about it and then he 
muttered something to Fatty. “ Fine. We'll go” The two mice sensed a 
smile from under the hood, but then the figure started to walk away. 
“Follow Me,” The figure said. 

The mice followed the figure up a series of tunnels, never stopping. At
the top they saw daylight. Rook was about to ask how they were going to 
get off the island when the figure nodded its head in a direction. 
There, stood two crows. Rook walked over to one and jumped on. Fatty 
followed. When they where both on, the crows walked to a cliff edge. 
Rook was about to turn around to ask the figure how to ride a crow, but 
she had vanished. Fatty said “ I guess you hang on to the ears” The 
crows dived off the cliff edge. The mice plummeted down, and just 
before Rook could let off a scream the crow swooped back up into the 
air. The mice experimented with the steering for a while. As they flew 
they saw Rats. They were pointing at the mice. Some Rats started to 
open fire on the birds. The birds had somehow sensed danger and 
expertly dodged the arrows. The mice flew over the Rats and then over 
the water. The mice reached the beech of Modseep and slowed down. They 
flew over the walls and peered down. Mice where running around, swords 
in their hands. Arrows fell from the sky. Dead mice were being dragged 
away. And wounded mice where being carted away. Blood lay in some parts 
of the battlements. Some towers and walls had been reduced to rubble. 
Over the Rats, the mice now flew. Hundreds of Rats stood on the spot. 
Lots of archers were lighting arrows on fire. Tents had been put up for 
the siege. The Rats noticed Rook and Fatty but they did not have time 
to do any thing. Fatty yelled to Rook, through the screams of the wind 
“  If that thing back in the cave was right, it's all up to us, if we 
fail, so does mouse kind.” That was not a comforting thought but it was 
true. The mice flew and flew; Most of the journey was over sea. They 
had been travelling for three hours when they reached land. It was 
country taken up by one forest: Dark Wood Forest. The massive trees 
began to appear under them, and soon they could only see trees and sky. 


The crows found a clearing and slowly drifted down to the ground. Once
Fatty and Rook had jumped off the crows, they felt the hard ground. The 
crows suddenly took off into the sky, and were out of sight quickly. 
“So, here we are” Fatty commented. “ So we are” replied Rook. The mice 
walked a bit then Rook said, “ how are we supposed to find this person 
any way?” “I don't know” Fatty replied honestly The trees gave a shake. 
“ We better find shelter, who knows how long it will take to find the 
person.” The two mice walked into the forest and got swallowed into the 
darkness. The trees were so thick; the mice could not see the night sky 
anymore. After two hours of heading east, into the heart of the forest, 
the mice found an upturned tree. A big hole lay where the trunk used 
to. The mice snuggled up in the hole. The forest was dark, Very dark. 
Morning came. Even in the day, the trees blocked out most of the light. 
The two mice awoke. They took out a big sweet nut. They ate in silence, 
for they did not know what to do next. They were in Dark Wood Forest. 
Where they had been told to go. So where was this thing that was meant 
to guide them. “ It's not true!” Yelled Fatty. Rook replied “ are you 
sure, it sound true to me” Fatty went on sarcastically “oh what was the 
name of it, oh yeah, it was Torlina. Oh Torlina, come out!” Fatty went 
on saying “ Torlina come out” A figure crept up behind the mice. “ 
Someone say my name?” It said. The mice jumped and turned around to see 
a cloaked figure, almost identical to the one on The Hidden Islands. “ 
Who are you?” asked Fatty, half knowing the answer. “  I have many 
names, but now, my name is Torlina” Torlina collected some wood and 
started a fire. The mice sat round the fire, Nervous and mystified. 
They all stared into the fire for a while. Torlina broke the silence “ 
To cut a long story short I am Torlina, I am a Servant Of Destiny. 
Basically, I was put on this planet to guide living things. I interfere 
with destiny, and change it a little. There are a very few Servants Of 
Destiny.” Torlina looked up to see two mice with open mouths. “Why all 
the disguise?” asked Rook Torlina replied. “ As long as we wear the 
cloaks, we can't be seen by any one else, unless we want to be seen” 
Fatty said, “ Why don't you want to get seen?” Torlina replied, “ We 
Servants of Destiny do not want to become part of that destiny too 
much. So it is best to remain Unseen.” Torlina hushed the mice. “ Now I 
shall tell you why I am here” Said Torlina. 

Torlina started to talk to the mice. “ Let start with a tale. Thousands
of years ago, the lost city belonged to squirrels. Back then it was 
called The Great City. One night a great siege began. The Rats where 
determined to take over the city. Many Rats died and many squirrels 
died. On the last day of the siege, the Rats knew that an army of mice 
would arrive in a day. So someone was sent in with the Rats. It was a 
Servant Of Destiny” Rook interrupted “ I thought they where helping the 
mice. Like you!” Torlina continued. “Some of us are. I have before 
guided Rats against mice before. We have no sides. We just help destiny 
get along”. Torlina continued the tale. “ So a group of Rats and one 
Servant Of Destiny found their way into the city. Just before they all 
died, the Servant Of Destiny put a black glass orb in the main city 
well. Then the Servant left. Little did anyone know the orb was 
magical. It was terrible magic. For anyone that drunk out of that well 
would be doomed. Their soul would be sucked up and belong to the orb.” 
Fatty and Rook were staring at Torlina. “So if you are looking to save 
all the mice, you have to go to the Lost City, retrieve the orb and 
smash it. But to get into the Lost City you must go to The Marshes Of 
The Dead. At the point where the marshes meet the land of Grinshank you 
shall find a talisman. This will protect you from the angry souls of 
the Lost City.” Torlina paused then said, “I have now set the coarse of 
destiny. My help is needed elsewhere” With that Torlina stood up and 
walked into the night. Rook broke the silence “ so once again we have 
to find something that we have no idea where about it is. Fatty said “ 
we do know its in the marshes, hopefully destiny will guide us to it.” 
At that Rook said, “ yes destiny, I don't think I trust those servants 
any more” “  Fatty replied, “ well, whether we trust them or not, 
tomorrow we are heading into the marshes of the dead.” 

The mice awoke the next day. It took a moment before the mice remembered
the tales of last night. They packed up camp and headed what they 
thought was Northeast, towards the marshes of the dead. T he mice 
didn't talk allot, they both new what they had to do. Round a fire, two 
mice stared up at the night sky while eating a piece of meat. The stars 
where out.  The moon shone like a bright light Rook said dreamily, “My 
mum used to say, that when you die, you become a star, and watch over 
the world” He couldn't say any more. He was tired, cold and sad. He lay 
down and slept. That got Fatty thinking. Why had they come, they where 
endangering there lives, and not helping there kind, all for the sake 
of some legend, and a bunch of hooded figures. But still, Fatty lay 
down and was fast asleep. They eventually awoke. The two mice stood up 
slowly and packed their belongings. Once again they headed towards the 
marshes of the dead. They walked for an hour or so, before they saw 
her. A little female mouse was sitting down at the foot of a tree, 
singing a song to her-self. Fatty and Rook exchanged looks of 
puzzlement. They must have been close to the girls, because she sensed 
something and turned to see two pale, lost looking mice, carrying 
swords. She leapt up and ran into the trees. Fatty ran after her with 
rook behind. The chase went on for about one minute. Fatty eventually 
lost the girl. They were out of breath. Rook was still puzzled. A loud 
noise of lots of feet echoed round the mice. It stopped Fatty and Rook 
glanced at each other in terror. Then a voice spoke from the shadows, 
“who are you”, it was the voice of a rat. The mice held their sword 
handle, ready to lash out. “Who are you!” the voice repeated. Rook 
plucked up courage. “ I am Rook of Modseep, I ‘m passing through the 
forest to get to the marshes of the dead.” He finished speaking. The 
voice of the rat cut in “who is your companion?” Fatty mumbled, “I am 
Fatty, Rooks companion, seeking the same thing.” The mice shuffled, 
then started to drift over, away from the voice.  A signal must have 
been made, because what happened next, took the mice by surprise. From 
the circle of trees around them, things emerged. “What the?” mumbled 
Fatty.                                                    An organized 
group of animals stepped out of the shadows. They each were armed 
differently; some had spears, some swords and some chain male. There 
was also another thing weird; some were rats and some mice. 

The rat that had previously spoken “Greetings Fatty and Rook” Rook
looked upon the speaker and now saw a harmless rat, his skin was 
covered in mud, and like every one else he was he looked out of place. 
The rat gestured to some animals and a mouse and a rat came forward, 
they pointed spears at Rook and Fatty, who soon were marched off into 
the woods. The rest of the group followed, they moved ever so silently 
through the undergrowth. Finally they staggered into a clearing where 
wooden that was filled with huts made out of wood and mud. Women and 
children were darting round the site. One woman looked up at the group 
of animals entering the settlement, gathered her two children and ran 
into the house. The group reached the centre of all the houses; about 
twelve of them surrounded the group. Slowly the troop broke down and 
animals went into houses and back into the forest. After a few minutes 
that only left Rook, Fatty and the rat standing outside. “Martha” 
called the rat. A thin female mouse stepped out of one of the huts. She 
carried a tray with goblets of water on it and chunks of bread. She 
walked up to the animals, gave them a nod, and then handed them food. 
“Eat” she said then walked away. The rat took a bite of the bread and 
then only did the mice start to chew the bread. The rat started again. 
“You are probably wondering where you are and who you are talking to, 
we are just a band of animals. Some of us don't want war. Some of us 
have escaped from capture. Some where once lost, and some of us just 
want to live differently.” The mice stared at the rat, still unsure 
weather to trust him. The rat continued, “We have learnt to live in the 
harsh forest and get along with each other.” The rat   walked away and 
shouted back “welcome” Martha came out of another hut and beckoned to 
the mice. Rook and Fatty ran over to her. They were showed to a hut. It 
was simple, it could sleep three animals, and it had beds and a table 
in it. Martha left the two mice in the hut. “Are we expected to stay?” 
asked Rook. “ I think so” replied Rook. A few hours later, Martha   
called the mice for a meal,  It was a spectacular feast. Some rats 
entertained the group with jokes and stories. Over the meal, Fatty and 
Rook had decided it was time to move on. How ever nice the settlement 
seemed, it was not for them. They had a quest to do. After the meal the 
mice explained to the chief rat that they couldn't stay. The rat had 
said. “You go on your quest, but I will speed it up by providing you 
transport. Rook and Fatty were shown to a rabbit, it looked Un-healthy. 
The rat read Rooks mind and said “don't be fooled by her appearance, 
she will travel faster than you have ever gone. The mice mounted the 
rabbit. Fatty was at the rein, Rook sat behind. Fatty stared one last 
time at the simple village, and then kicked the rabbit hard.  It shot 
off into the trees quicker than Rook could say thanks. 

It was very scary; the rabbit weaved in and out of the trees faster than
anything they had experienced before. Several times Rook had to duck 
out of the way of an over hanging branch. The mice rode for over two 
hours, to scared to try to stop the speeding rabbit. Eventually the 
rabbit slowed down and came to standstill. Rook leapt off and lay on 
the ground and rested his hands and feet. Fatty tied the rabbit up and 
dropped to the ground, lay there and slept. It was dark when the mice 
awoke. The mice untied the rabbit and Rook took the rein and Fatty sat 
behind. One kick got the rabbit moving again. They held on tighter than 
ever, and rode into the darkness. It did not take long before the 
terrified mice reached the end of the forest. “The marshes!” exclaimed 
fatty. It was not really a welcoming sight. After travelling through 
the depressing dark gloomy forest, they wouldn't want to then be 
travelling over a big dull marsh. Rook asked Fatty a question “why is 
it called the marshes of the dead?” Fatty replied “many years ago, the 
marshes were a burial site for all animals, under the marshes will lie 
thousands of dead bodies.” Rook shuddered at that thought, and kicked 
the rabbit to continue. Progress was a lot slower; the rabbit's feet 
kept sinking into the ground. They rode on the dull marshes for two 
days. It was late evening.  The rabbit was walking slowly, allowing the 
mice to eat and drink while moving. “Look!” yelled Rook. The two mice 
turned their heads and saw on the horizon a parade of six figures. They 
were carrying a rectangular object, (about the size of a rat). Fatty 
turned the rabbit round and rode towards the figures. “What are you 
doing!” yelled Rook. Fatty simply replied, “They've seen us. It would 
be unwise to flee. They are ever so fast” Rook stared at fatty. Fatty 
stared into the darkness. The parade stopped and stared at the two 
mice. They were all wearing brown cloaks and the thing that they where 
carrying was a coffin. Fatty immediately dismounted and walked up to 
the cloaked figures. He closed his eyes. And bowed. 

Fatty remained bowing till one by one the other cloaked figures bowed.
Rook was the only one left standing up. Slowly and clumsily, Rook 
dismounted and bowed. Fatty was the first to rise. Again one by one all 
of the figures rose. One of the hooded figures spoke “ what is your 
purpose so close to Grinshank. You do know the rats have good defence 
organized. It must be very dangerous.” Another figure stepped in front 
of Rook. Rooks hand gripped round the handle of his sword. “Let me 
explain who we are. Most animals call us the death monks.  We bury all 
the animals under the marshes. Every animal that's dead and we've seen 
is under the marshes. Well...” he paused slightly confused, and then 
found the words he was looking for. “Lately the rats have been 
searching our temple. They are disturbing the home of the dead. When we 
asked them why they say that some servant of destiny has told them that 
some mice would enter the temple. Ever since they have been searching 
it.” Fatty took charge and nudged Rook out of the way. “Did you say 
servant of destiny?” asked Fatty. The monk replied, “Yes, I did” Fatty 
continued, “Let me tell you a tale” Fatty told the death monk of their 
quest. The monk concluded. 

“Very well, I shall take you to our temple if you're what's causing the
rats such panic. “Thank you” said fatty.                                
                                                 If you die, it will 
not be the monks' fault, though we shall bury you well. We will get you 
inside, in a coffin. When you have the talisman we shall carry you 
out.” The mice nodded in understanding. Te group set off, Fatty and 
Rook walking. They walked for an hour. Then stopped. Rook was 
instructed to get in the coffin. Two monks ran back to the temple to 
fetch another. Half an hour later they were back. The two mice lay in 
the coffins. Suddenly they were picked up and they began to move. 

It was bumpy, but the mice had to lie still and be quiet. Within some
time (it was hard to keep track of time) voices reached the ears of the 
mice.  The journey went with no suspicion and soon the mice heard a 
thud as their coffins hit the ground. One of the death monks said 
something to a rat. The rat shouted and called a troop of rats 
together; Fatty heard the words from a monk's mouth “ I thought I saw a 
band of squirrels sneak in from the west of the watch tower” The rats 
ran out of the temple shouting and yelling. Rook seized his chance and 
jumped out of the coffin. The temple was made of grey marble. There 
were painting on the wall of skeletons, fire, and gory pictures. There 
where several statues of animals. Rook was examining a statue and out 
of an opposite door came two rats. The rats immediately saw Rook and 
back to the door they came in. no! A death monk jumped down from a 
ledge, produced a scythe, and chopped the two rats heads off. Rook ran 
up to an alter where a wooden box lay. He grabbed the box and ran back 
and into the coffin and shut the lid. They lay there for what seemed 
like half an hour till the coffins got picked up and the mice started 
to get carried away. The departure went smoothly as well, and    soon 
the mice could hear no noise except the thudding of the death monk' s 
feet.  The coffin was soon lay down and the mice stepped out of the 
darkness into daylight. The mice travelled for four days, not seeing 
any other life form. Finally they reached the lost city. 

There was only one gate into the city. It was wide open. The mice
scrambled   through the gate. There was no one in sight. “Wow!” 
exclaimed Rook. There where many streets leading off into the distance, 
great building lined the streets, but like everything the houses were 
in ruins. Not one building was undamaged. The mice walked, not sure of 
where their feet were taking them. It was indeed a curios place. After 
five minutes of walking the mice stopped. “What” Fatty said as he saw 
Rook peering through a window. Rook replied, “Thought I saw something” 
A voice drifted from inside the building “And so you did” 

Out of the building stepped a servant of destiny. The servant said
“Fancy meeting you here, its as if destiny is making us meet” The 
servant laughed at his lame joke. Rook, Fatty, follow me.  The mice 
followed the servant till   they reached a well. “Here we are” said the 
servant. Then continued “ the orb lies in the well, you no the rest so 
get working. Fatty volunteered to go down into the well. He scavenged a 
rope and attached it to himself. “Ready?” asked Rook “Ready”, replied 
Fatty. The rope began to be lowered. Slowly Fatty disappeared into the 
darkness of the well. Ten agonizing minutes past, But eventually Fatty 
emerged with a black glass orb in his hands. “Wow, its beautiful” Rook 
remarked Fatty untied the rope and lay the orb down on the hard rock. 
He drew his sword. Held it above his head and brought it down on the 
orb. It made a big bang, but the orb did not break. The mice stared at 
the orb. Then five or so seconds after the impact the orb shattered. It 
burst into flames then an ever-bigger bang erupted from the orb.  The 
mice and the servant of destiny fell to the ground and all went black. 
They awoke. It couldn't be true. Were their eyes playing tricks?  It 
must be a dream. Fatty and Rook sat up and saw a big crowd of squirrels 
gathering around them! The lost souls! They had done it; the souls had 
been turned back into squirrels! Women and children in the crowd 
started to clap, tears of joy were in their eyes. Happiness filled the 
air. A tall squirrel walked out of the crowd. He had a sword at his 
side. He walked over to the two mice and pulled them up. “Thank you so 
much” he said, his voice was kind and gentle. Then he continued. “This 
servant of destiny has informed us on your situation. See you have been 
out cold for four days. I will return your favour, come with me” The 
mice followed the squirrel. As they walked through the city, animals 
threw petals over them, and bowed to them. They reached the main gate 
and went out. The sight made the mice gasp. Lines of armoured squirrels 
stood straight with spears. Lots of squirrels with pitchforks and 
spades stood in squads separate squads. Rows of squirrels on rabbits 
trotted between the ranks. The squirrel said, “My name is Tutters, it 
is the least I could do” Tutters nodded then added  “sir” 

The warriors had assembled. Fatty, Rook and Tutters had their separate
troops to control. The army was ready. Rook was to go into Grinshank 
first. He was to terrorize a few rat villages. Tutters and his army 
would wait in the marshes to capture any fleeing rats. Fatty and his 
men would come into Grinshank when the rat army retreated from the 
siege at Modseep. After a four-day march the animals were in place. 
Rook stared at his men, knowing that death would meet some of them 
soon. He stood up on a large rock and addressed his men. “Animals of 
the lost city! We have done our bit for you. Now help us in return. 
Remember, it was the rats that cursed you! So fight to death. Fight for 
your family, for your king, and for your freedom! Several squirrels 
shuddered but then a chant broke out. “Rook, Rook, Rook, Rook, Rook, 
Rook!” Then Rook turned and began to march towards a small rat village. 
It had to go slowly. Camp was made in a quarry not far from the 
village. It was night. A team of squirrels were about to be lead into 
the village by Rook. Thirty squirrels had begun to get into place. 
“Hide on the roofs, in farm houses, behind bushes” their leader had 
said. The bushes and the roofs of huts were holding lots of squirrels, 
all of them keeping out of sight.  Early morning came. Three hours had 
passed, its roughly three o clock in the morning. The rats had no idea 
what was about to happen to them. But no pity was felt. A male rat was 
walking along behind a row of farmhouses. He was carrying a bucket of 
water. A figure swiftly and silently dropped of a building. He landed 
in front of the rat. There was no time for a scream. With one quick 
motion the squirrel's knife sliced into the rats neck. The squirrel ran 
out of sight, into the darkness. The noise of laughter reached a 
squirrel's ears. He and a companion quickly hoped out of a bush and 
made their way into a hut. Two rats lay on seat, drinking from a 
goblet. The squirrels jumped in the building and each launched a knife 
at the rats. Two knives hit two rats and two bodies fell lifelessly 
onto the ground. Several other rats were killed, and by the time the 
squirrels had got back to camp twelve rats had been murdered. Next 
night, squirrels lined the same rooftops and bushes. It was different. 
There were signs of panic. Windows had been boarded up. No one was 
outside. Again the squirrels waited for three hours. But no soul came 
out of any huts. After an hour of waiting, Rook had changed plan. He 
jumped off a roof and landed outside a door. He gave a signal to two 
squirrels and they jumped in the window. Rook opened the door, sword 
ready. But no one was in it. Three more huts were broken into, but no 
rats. Next hut. Rook was at the door, ten squirrels on the roof. And 
some lay by the windows. A signal was made and rook entered the room.  
In the room must have been twenty rats, all cowering together. An axe 
was swung towards Rook. “Fighting back” Rook, muttered. Then he yelled. 
it was a second signal. Through the windows jumped several squirrels, 
they took the rats by surprise and the rats were left undefended. One 
by one the guards dropped to the ground. The hut was secured. Lots of 
women and children rats sat on the ground in a big group. Hugging each 
other.  Rook spoke. “We are not savage killers. We kill only who harm 
us. I will let you go in one condition. You have to go back to Modseep. 
Tell who is ever in charge of the rats that his people will be harmed 
next time, and his kingdom will fall.” A long silence filled room. The 
rats where herded out. They mounted on weasels and set off into the 
marshes. Rook shouted, “Many will die if you do not go to your leader!” 


Rook let his men rest for a few hours. A great meal was provided. The
squirrels trekked over to the abandoned rat village. There they made 
camp.  The squirrels spent most of their time resting and sleeping. Two 
days passed, not much happened. It was early evening. Most animals were 
sleeping. Some kept watch. Gazing warily into the surroundings. One of 
the squirrels that were on guard heard a crunching noise in front of 
him. He peered into the darkness. A hand gripped his mouth stopping him 
making any noise. The squirrel fell to the floor. A figure stepped out 
of the shadows. He was dirty; he had a long curved sword at his side 
and a javelin on his back. “Got you,” he said. The squirrels looked up 
clumsily from the ground then saw whom it was. He immediately stood up 
straight and said “Sorry captain Tutters” Tutters told the squirrel to 
keep a sharper eye out. Soon his force emerged into the village. They 
all looked thin and starved. Tutters found his way into a hut were he 
found Rook staring gloomily down at the floor. “We don't have a 
chance,” Rook muttered. There was a silence and Tutters said, “We will 
still fight those who cursed us. Even if it means death!” The animals 
soon got discussing the where about of Fatty. “Any news of Fatty?” 
asked Rook “Well, we met up one day ago. He said to tell you not to do 
any thing stupid and good luck.” Rook muttered in his gloomy state 
again “he should be staying to the north. Is he north of Grinshank? The 
rats were predicted to attack from the west. He needs to be hidden 
before the battle begins.” Tutters replied, “ Yes, he is north. Now I 
think we should get some rest. I have been travelling all of today.” 
Rook lay down and closed his eyes while Tutters went and checked on the 
troops. Two more days passed. Morning came. The Squirrels were checking 
all their checking all their weapons. Meanwhile Fatty and rook sat in a 
hut. Discussing an important matter. “Where is Fatty? The Rats were due 
here now, and Fatty was supposed to be here a day ago!” Rook yelled. He 
was more concerned than angry. “I have no idea, but lets just wait for 
him and hope he is in time.” With that tutters walked out the hut and 
joined some squirrels. Rook was left alone. All the sense had gone from 
Rooks mind. Where was fatty? Why had he believed some destiny tale and 
endangered his life? Why was he waiting for a hoard of rats to come and 
slice him up? Why isn't he with his friends? Some of those things he 
would never know.  He walked outside and joined the squirrels for the 
rest of the day. Later he was glad to going to sleep. He shut his eyes, 
and went off into deep, dreamless sleep. 

A squirrel waked rook up, he was sweating and was holding a spear.
“Master Rook! Get up, come quick!” Rook leapt up. Had Fatty come at 
last? Rook stepped out of the hut and saw Tutters with a group of 
thirty or so squirrels. Rook walked up and listened to what tutters was 
saying. “So, I want you to stand here, remember the tactic I taught 
you, now go!” the squirrels ran off in a direction. “What's going on?” 
asked Rook Tutters looked at Rook. “Their here. They have come. A small 
band of them entered the village. They are all dead.” Rook looked as 
white as a ghost. He then remembered his place among these animals. “ I 
will go up front, I want to see our opponents.” Rook ran up to the edge 
of the village. Efficiently, a wall out of crates, buckets, beds and 
house hold objects had been put together to make a wall. Rook reached 
the wall and saw around fifty squirrels. Chanting reached the animals 
ears and they looked up. Twenty or so rats, charged up towards the 
defence. When they were about ten metres away a volley of arrows came 
out from behind a forest.  The arrows struck the wall. A few groans 
came from squirrels. Rook looked around quickly. Nothing fatal. Almost 
at once the rats had reached the wall. Rook and many others popped up 
and swung their swords at the rats. Cries of pain and banging of metal 
rang through the air. The rats were slowly dispersed. Rook looked 
around. Three or so mice lay on the ground bleeding. As Rooks duty, he 
crawled over to the wounded and muttered words of praise and luck. Then 
they were carted away. Away from the blood,  the death. The rats. Two 
more attack like that occurred. Still, hardly any got wounded. By now, 
the scene was filled with blood. Reinforcements had been sent up. Now 
rats appeared. This time a cart emerged from the forest; one rat was 
driving the cart. The cart had no roof. Rook stared curiously at the 
cart. What were they doing? The rat got into clear view of the 
squirrels and shouted at the top of his voice. “Don't shoot me!” What 
was going on? The rat continued, “Well, before you shoot me I have 
something to tell you” He paused then burst out laughing. “On the way 
we encountered a group of squirrels. They were very thick. We sliced 
them up slowly. But there still alive, aren't   you Fatty!” Rook forgot 
to breath, the rat laughed, a voice from Fatty muttered “Rook, I'm 
sorry” He couldn't say any more, his body lay back on the cart and 
joined several other bodies. The rat said “ They are all alive. See we 
wanted to save them up” He laughed again. Rook stared at the cart, his 
heart found no joy, tears rolled down his cheeks. His weapon was 
lowered. The rat gave a yell. A group of ten archers ran out of the 
forest. Their arrowheads were flaming. The rat starred at Rook one last 
time then laughed again. “Goodbye Fatty” The rats pulled back their 
bowstring and then let the arrows fly into the sky. Time past, 
squirrels were screaming crying, praying. Tutters was now here. He was 
on his knees crying. Arrows finally came in sight. They came down and 
landed on the cart, setting it up into flames. The rat on the cart did 
not budge. He merely sat there as the flames ate away at every living 
soul on the cart. 

As the archers pulled back to fire a second volley Rook jumped up from
behind the wall. He leapt over the wall and ran up towards the cart. A 
few seconds later other squirrels had joined him. When he reached the 
cart, practically over two hundred squirrels stood faithfully ready to 
fight. Ranks where assembled and soon the whole army was in position. 
From behind the forest   chanting began, it the struck Rook how mean 
and cruel the rats were. Out of the forest emerged around fifty mounted 
rats, the rabbit they were on were all black. The formation shifted. 
The front line of squirrels all had their swords at the ready. Waiting 
the on coming hoard of rats. The rats must have been twenty seconds 
away. A squirrel stepped in front of the others and shouted,   “wait 
for it” They were only ten seconds away “Wait!” At the last possible 
moment the front line of squirrels dropped their swords and picked up 
long pikes. The surprised rats screamed but it was too late to try to 
turn around, the rats got impaled on the pikes. The pike bearers were 
covered in blood from head to toe. Out of the forest marched what 
looked like around four hundred rats.  About five minutes was spent 
just watching the opponent. Then at once around 0ne hundred rats 
charged at the squirrels.  Rook found his voice. “Fire the catapults!”  
He bellowed. A few seconds' later flaming boulders rained down on the 
rats. It must have killed quite a few rats, but their numbers still 
seemed larger. The rats were still marching, getting closer to the 
lines of squirrels. “Fire!” bellowed Rook. Once again hot rocks rained 
down from the sky onto the rats. This time after many fell the rats 
broke ranks. Archers formed a group then let loose a volley of arrows. 
The squirrels who had shields took cover behind them, those who did not 
have shields did the best they could to avoid being hit. Many squirrels 
did get hit. But the wounds were minor. A wave of rats reached the 
squirrels' front line. Weapons clashed. Blood spilled. Heads rolled 
off. Rook walked forward to fight with his squirrels. A rat waved a 
sword at him. Rook ducked then brought his sword into rat's stomach. An 
axe was coming down Rook from behind, he had not seen. “Ahh” a squirrel 
groaned then jumped in front of Rooks attacked. The squirrels blocked 
the axe then his sword went into the rat's chest. Rook nodded thanks to 
the squirrel before they both ran back into the action. Many more 
squirrels than thought at first got slaughtered; Rooks men were slowly 
getting killed. Nearly the whole of that rat wave was destroyed in the 
next ten minutes, and the animals helped the wounded. Rook called to a 
squirrel. “Go and see how Tutters and his squirrels are doing!” The 
squirrels ran into the distance. Rook shouted words of praise to the 
terrified animals. Then he walked up and looked at the tree line. In 
the trees must of lay double of what the squirrels had just fought. 
Rook wiped the blood of his arms and re sorted the formation. A hand 
tapped him on the back. He whizzed round quickly. “Sir” the squirrels 
said. “Well?” asked Rook. |  The scout said “Tutters is gone” Rook 
waved the squirrel away. First Fatty, now Tutters has presumably fled 
and left Rook to die on his own. Rook waited with his animals. Waited 
for about ten minutes. The chanting started again. The rat army marched 
out into the open. An army of about five hundred rats came into the 
open. This battle had no hope. 

Rook stepped in front of all the terrified animals then yelled. “Fight
for your family, fight for your city, and die honourably.” Rook started 
to jog towards the rats in the distance. His army followed. A volley of 
arrows was fired from the charging squirrels. They came down on the 
rats and killed a few. This was it, the final charge, and Forty metres 
away. A Storm of arrows fell upon the squirrels. Some fell, too 
exhausted to carry on. Twenty metres away the rats picked up their 
spears and knelt Down. A burst of terror struck through both the forces 
as a huge squad of animals ran out of the forest and into the rat 
flanks. They took the rats by surprise and many heads flew off, the 
front line of the rats was broken. Rook now came in contact with the 
rats. He fought his way to the ranks of Tutters and his animals. 
Squirrels died rats died. Death was in the air. Rook blocked a 
well-aimed blow to the chest. He then brought his sword into a rat's 
chest. Rook risked a glance at Tutters. He was just stabbing at a rat 
on the ground. It was a close fight. Half an hour later of blood, guts 
and death, the Squirrels were resting triumphantly. Into the forest 
fled some rats, which were soon pursued by squirrels. Rook ran over and 
hugged Tutters. “Glad to see you” Tutters muttered. It was a battle no 
one would forget. It would be told to generations below. Many died. 
Many animals lost in death forever. The wounded were seen to, many 
hundreds of squirrels' dead. Slowly, over the next hour, squirrels 
emerged from the depths of the forest. Lots of animals were crying. 
Tears of relief, Tears of pity, tears of Sadness. Soon the Squirrels 
left the scene and turned back into the centre of the village. All were 
quiet. Rook shouted commands through tears. “Take the wounded to the 
west side. Leave the dead where they are. Return to the huts and stay 
there!” Rook walked off into the village accompanying a wounded 
squirrel. Cries filled the air. Tears and blood covered the ground. 
Rook had to be in a room for several hours while wounded where lay on 
tables. A hand would yank out the arrows or clean the wound. All while 
rook was muttering words of confidence and praise. A squirrel whimpered 
as a hand went into his stomach and the words filled the room. “It ok, 
you family will be waiting for you” Later Rook walked out the hut, 
death monks swarmed round the village. They picked up bodies and got 
them ready for a service. Rook reached his hut; he went in and lay 
down. He didn't sleep. His head was filled with images of dead animals. 
Screams of terror echoed round his head.  And most of all, the scene 
with The cart. It played over and over in Rooks mind. The laughter of 
the rat, the grins of the archers, the groans from Fatty, The flaming 
cart. Rook found no sleep that night. 

Rook got up that morning. He walked outside and gazed around. Tutters
met him. They smiled at each other. “Oh come here Rook,” said Tutters, 
he hugged Rook and said, “You are a brave mouse. You showed great 
courage. I an sorry about Fatty” Tutters did actually seem sorry. Rook 
hugged him harder. “We have work to do, animals to see to” Tutters 
walked to a hut door and went in. he said, “Higgans?” A squirrel 
replied “Here” “Tunk?” “That's me,” replied a squirrel. “Doffrey?” One 
of the squirrels spoke. “He passed away last night” Tutters walked out 
the room slowly. Rook started to register squirrels. “Elm?” “Here sir” 
“Chut?” “He did not manage to get back” “Thank you muttered Rook. 
“Oak?” “No sir” replied another squirrel. “Dorsy?” “Here sir” replied a 
small squirrel. Rook walked into another hut. Four names were read. 
Three of those squirrels had not made it back alive. Rook and Tutters 
interviewed the squirrels for another two hours, till every living one 
was registered. They packed up camp and got into marching ranks. They 
then started the long journey to Modseep. They reached the water fields 
in three days. They only stopped to eat, rest and sleep. Within another 
four days they were in The Dunes. And by sunrise, they had reached the 
shore. There they stood for several minutes. Suddenly there was a cry 
and many boats came across from Modseep. Figures stepped out of them 
and shouted. “Oh my god. There back!” Boats full of squirrels soon were 
on their way to Modseep. When the boats docked at the grand marble 
castle the squirrels gaped at the grand castle. It was not as 
spectacular as before. It was damaged from the siege, holes in walls. 
Towers reduced to rubble. As they entered the gate, flowers were thrown 
down from the top of the gatehouse. Cheers echoed round the castle. 
Crowds of mice gathered round the on coming troops. The crowds fell 
silent. The flowers weren't being thrown. The king of Modseep appeared 
from on top of the gatehouse. “It is a very noble thing you have done. 
Rook and Fatty set off, they risked their lives in order to try to save 
mouse kind. Squirrels have risen and come to the aid of the mice. We 
thank you all very much.” The crowds began cheering again and the 
squirrels weapons were flung out of there hands and they where taken by 
mice to shelters to rest. Evening came. The animals where gathered in a 
great big grand hall. At least nine hundred animals could fit in the 
hall. They all sat at a huge table with the king at the end. A huge 
feast was prepared and delivered to the squirrels. Rook sat in a chair. 
Gazing around, wondering if it was here where he belonged. Shouts 
echoed through the hall. A few animals turned to see two mice running 
up towards Rook. “Rook!” they yelled. Matilda and muddles hugged Rook 
so hard Rook nearly fainted. Rook was now centre of attention. “We 
missed you Rook!” they said. “ I missed you two too” rook muttered. 
Tears filled all their eyes. “Where's Fatty?” asked Matilda. Rook 
expression changed. He burst out with tears and hugged Muddles. “He's 
gone” wept Rook. Matilda's and Muddles's mouth fell open. They started 
to cry. Tears rolled down the three mousses cheeks. Matilda and Muddles 
ran out of the hall and through the great door. The feast went on. 
Tales of bloodthirsty rats were told. Rook even heard one squirrels say 
“Captain Rook killed four rats with his bare hands!” Rook didn't enjoy 
it as much as he could without his friends there. But an hour or so 
later, the two mice returned and took a seat beside Rook. “The wars 
over!” exclaimed Matilda. “Thanks to you” finished Muddles. Rook 
glanced at the two mice and spoke. “I think this was destined to 
happen.” Rook stuffed a fruit into his mouth and laughed at his private 
joke, Matilda and Muddles burst into laughter as well, Rook just wish 
he could share the joke with one other mouse. But he couldn't. He was 
sure fatty would be watching them from the skies, looking down on the 
animals. After a filling and merry feast Rook slowly walked back to his 
quarters. A spark set off old memories in him.  Rook reached his room. 
“Goodnight Muddles” Muddles hugged Rook. “See you tomorrow” said 
Matilda. Rook hugged Matilda harder than before. He then turned into 
his room. Lay down on the bed and as he went to sleep, he thought of 
his adventure outside of Modseep. 

The times were dark. Rats were trying to conquer the lands. In this very
year an Army of Rats was trying to take over the Grand city. The city 
was home of the squirrels. The squirrels had a small army but on the 
first few days of the siege their army had no more than eighty 
squirrels in it. The siege had been going on for two weeks. An army of 
mice who acted as international warriors was going to arriving in back 
up in four days. Many innocent animals died and a few Rats have been 
killed. It was one day before the mice would arrive. The rats sent in a 
wave of twenty Rats. They had bombs strapped to their backs. They ran 
into the wall of the city, where another Rat would shoot the explosives 
on their back. And the wall would be gone. Boom!! A hole appeared in 
the wall. Twenty Rats charged in. This move was unexpected and one of 
the squirrels on guard organized a squad of to go and investigate. They 
killed or chased out all the rats. But as one squirrel turned a corner, 
he saw a hooded figure put something in a bucket of a well, and then 
the person lowered the bucket into the well. The cloaked figure was 
walking away. Then he stopped. Turned around. Produced a small knife 
from his belt. And then hurled it at the squirrel. The squirrel dropped 
down dead. Soon the mice arrived on the scene. Already the Rat army had 
retreated back to their country: Grinshank. The city was saved.  From 
then on all creatures remained allies. Except, the Rats. Suprisingly, 
The Rats did not try launch any more attacks. They kept to themselves. 
Little did any one know the Rats had won the War against the squirrels. 
So they didn't invade any other countries. Secretly they where saving 
troops, and weapons for another time, soon to come. 

One thousand years passed after the Battle of The Grand city. Rook, a
mouse with a chestnut coloured coat had finished his day of work. He 
and twenty other mice headed back to their cave. The lords of the sky, 
the eagles, had captured the mice. They were enslaved and made to dig 
holes in solid rock for the eagles to store food in in winter. Life was 
tough. Rook was a very young mouse; he had been working for the Eagles 
with his mother for many years. One of the baby eagles    called 
Golski, felt   sorry for the mice. One day when his parents were out 
hunting, Golski put as many mice as would fit on his back and flew the 
mice to safety. It took many trips but all the mice got down 
eventually. “SILENCE” yelled the oldest mouse. The speaker, the oldest 
mouse stood on a tree stump, his shinning white coat made him look like 
a king. “It is fortunate, yet spectacular to be in the outside world” 
said Snowy, and then his voice grew more serious. “It may be a dream 
for some of you, a nightmare or an adventure for others, but as leader 
I have to warn you the outside world is very dangerous indeed. So we 
must be very care”- his voice was no longer heard. “Ahh!!” “No!!!” The 
crow dived in and grabbed a mouse with its sharp knife like talons. It 
then ate another in one quick action. All the mice fled into the long 
grass only to find another hungry animal lurking in. Rook managed to 
find his mother through al the chaos. “Go, run my dear, I was once told 
head towards the sun to find safety, go!!” “Mum I really need you”. 
Rook said lying in a small hole he had found. `Please come back' Rook 
sobbed to him-self. The incident with the monstrous creatures had 
happened about three hours ago. Rook was tired, dirty, soaked with his 
own tears, and scratched. Sadly, Rook remained in that hole for about 
two more days, till one morning, (or it could have been the night, Rook 
was in a small hole deep under ground) Rook started to think of    
something   his mother used to say to him when he was a small baby 
mouse.   “ Young Rook, you are very lucky to have life, and you must 
always thank God, the creator of mice”. Rook stood up on his two hind 
legs and thought, “ I now know what I am to do, I must enjoy life, it 
is not yet my time to join my mother.” Rook jumped up and ran out of 
the small burrow into daylight. “Yes!!!!!!!!!!!” Gwen yelled but then 
stopped. He would have to be more carefully. He was out in the wild it 
was not safe. Follow the sun. Rook started running into the grass. He 
ran and ran, only stopping to examine a strange object. Rook finally 
reached sand. It was endless sand. This was what Eagles had called a 
beet, or a beach or something. Rook peered at it for a few seconds, 
unsure on what he should to. Rook plucked up his courage and leapt on 
to the sand. It was boiling! Rook ran and leapt and rolled his way 
across the endless sand. Then it struck him!!!! He had been travelling 
over sand for about an hour. He needed water and sleep. The only 
problem as that he could not see any water and he could not sleep on 
the sand, it would be too hot. Slowly Rook padded along the sandy 
ground. Nightfall came. Poor Rook was sitting in the shade of a pile of 
rocks. Rook, even though he didn't know it, was lucky to have any shade 
at all to rest in. He tried sleeping on his back, he trine sleeping on 
his belly, he even tried to sleep standing up but it was no good, he 
would never go into deep sleep. Occasionally Rook would fall asleep but 
only to wake up an hour or so later. It was a tough night, he had no 
dreams or no nightmares his sleep was thoughtless.                      
                                                                        
                Next day one thirsty tired brown and white mouse 
strolled across a big stretch of sand.  The next three days where the 
same, walk in the early morning, sleep in the afternoon, and then walk 
during the evening. It had rained once. Rook had gathered water in 
pebbles that had small holes in them. Rook carried a small pile of the 
water filled pebbles with him on his journey. The next evening was very 
weird. It happened as Rook was walking. Loud noises snapped him out of 
his daydream. “Fatty!! Look what we have here” The speaker was a mouse. 
He was dressed in gold armour and had a spear with a flinthead; 
strapped to his back He was mounted on a white rabbit. They're where 
three other mice like him, all mounted on white rabbits. A tall grey 
mouse dismounted and slowly walked up Rook. All eyes stared at Rook. “ 
Who are you and what is your business here” the mouse said sternly. “ 
My name is Rook I used to be a slave for Eagles I have no idea where I 
am or who you are” It came out of Rook's mouth so fast. “The Eagles 
eh...” said then mouse who Rook assumed was called Fatty. “ Yes, the 
Eagles” Rook muttered. Every body stood still for a few seconds. Then 
Fatty walked back to his rabbit and got on it. When he was on his 
rabbit Fatty said “ whiskers” A small thin white mouse responded, “ Yes 
sir” “Let this Rook person ride on the back of your mount”. The 
mystified Rook got on a white rabbit and immediately Rook was as comfy 
as he's ever been before.  He could study Whiskers better now. They 
rode very fast into the night not really speaking at all... 

The five mice had been riding for around one hour till they reached what
looked like a lake. A lake!!!!!!!!! Rook leapt of the rabbit and ran 
towards the water edge. At that moment Fatty leapt of his rabbit to and 
dived towards Rook. “No Rook!!!!” Fatty landed on Rook and knocked him 
to the ground. “ Do not drink from the lake, it is cursed” Fatty got up 
and went back to his rabbit. Rook remained on the ground eyes shut. “ 
Look Rook, there's plenty of food and water where were going”. Whiskers 
said gently. Another mouse interrupted Whiskers. “Sir the ferry's here” 
A few logs where tied together to make a raft, A grey mouse dressed in 
rags was onboard the raft pushing it along with paddle. The five mice 
rode onto the raft and dismounted. Rook studied Whiskers more 
carefully. He looked around Rook's age. His chestnut coat looked the 
same as Rook's.  The only big difference was that he was wearing gold 
plated armour. “Whiskers?” “Yes” “Why are you all wearing armour?” Know 
one spoke for a few seconds and then Whiskers looked at Fatty. Fatty 
nodded. “Well this place were we're going its where all the animals of 
the country come if there hurt, or in danger or if they're a patriot. 
You see Rook, not every animal gets along with each other. There are a 
group of animals, which are the Rats, they go round the country 
attacking and killing at free will.” At this point the ferryman 
shivered. Whiskers continued “ Any way we only have to dress in armour 
and patrol and stuff lately because something terrible happened. The 
Rats have declared war!!!” A small clap came from Fatty. “ Enough of 
the stories, Rook come with me, Muddles, Whiskers and Damsel, go report 
to captain Masher.” The ferry docked at a marble jetty and all the mice 
went their different was. Rook was stuck with Fatty. He was about to 
ask were Whiskers had gone when his eyes fell upon the fort in front of 
him. Its walls that where made of a gold marble colour, spread for ages 
then the walls turned. On the walls were battlements and in those 
battlements stood mice, standing tall, and a spear in their hand. 
Rook's eyes then focused in front of him. There was a big solid looking 
door made out of wood and carved on the door were the words. Modseep. 
“Wow!!” exclaimed Rook. The two mice walked up to the door. A guard 
looked at Rook and Fatty then shouted “ Patrol one is back!!” The guard 
then faced us and yelled from the battlements “ you can come in!!” Two 
mice entered the fort. Rook's eyes kept focusing on armed guards and 
patrols. “Welcome back master Fatty, the king wants to see you” A small 
plump mouse spoke; dark brown hair crowded his face. “ Thank you Doger” 
Rook followed Fatty, The young mouse found it hard to keep it up with 
him. They entered a torch light tunnel. Rook had a lot of questions but 
he sensed the seriousness in the situation so he kept his mouth shut. 
They reached a big grand door, it looked at least five metres tall 
(that's loads for a mouse!!!) Four guards stood outside the door, each 
was dressed in a green robe, had a spear and a shield with the royal 
initial on it, and also wore a yellow belt, which had a few knives 
strapped to it. “ State your name and your what you seek” bellowed a 
guard. “ I am Fatty and I wish to introduce my associate to the great 
king Magisteus III.” Rook, copying Fatty said “I am Rook and I seek the 
approval of your majesty.” Another guard said,  “You may enter now” 

Two mice entered through the grand doors. Beyond them lay a marble
hallway with holes in the walls for guards to stand in. There were 
eight guards in total, four on each side. They where dressed 
identically to the guards outside the door. Fatty started to move 
forward towards the end of the hall, towards the king. Rook followed 
trying not to show his nervousness. When they reached the king (it 
seemed to take ages to reach him) Fatty took a big bow and Rook 
followed suit. “Stand Fatty, stand Rook” His voice was frail. Rook and 
Fatty stood and looked upon their king. His coat looked like it used to 
be gleaming white but now it was grey. The king sat on a tall red 
chair. “So Fatty, who is this mouse” Fatty then explained the story 
that Rook had told him and then waited to see the king's verdict. The 
king replied slowly. “Is this true Rook?” “Yes my lord it is true” Rook 
mumbled sheepishly. “Then we must take action! Fatty please leave the 
room” Fatty gave a quick bow then scurried out the door. “Young mouse, 
have you ever desired to take revenge on the animals that harmed your 
kind.” “No.” “Well let me make a proposal to you Rook.” There was a 
long silence. “You can be one of us, join the Modseep mice.  We would 
put a roof over your head and protect you on one condition” Rook spoke 
automatically “ And what condition would that be my lord?” The king 
replied, “Join Modseep's army and help protect us.” Rook had been 
expecting this; he shuffled and then knelt down “sorry my great lord, 
the rats have done nothing to me.” Rook stood up, took a bow then ran 
out of the hall. Fatty was waiting outside. “Well, how did it go?” “I 
don't want to kill rat, they've done nothing to me!!” Fatty started 
walking down the tunnel, Rook followed close behind. When the two mice 
were out the long tunnel they stopped.  Rook admired the fort. The 
inside f the walls were the same gold marble colour as the outside. 
Marble archways led deep into the fort. The two mice kept walking till 
they reached part of the fort that was a few minutes away from the main 
bit of the fort. 

There, Rook was glad to meet Whiskers and the two other mice that had
rescued him from the beech. They were sitting on top of white rabbits. 
“Ever fancied a ride?” said Whiskers. Rook looked at Fatty “It will 
clear your head' Fatty said. “Fine” said Rook The other four mice 
grinned. ` Welcome to patrol one!' Whiskers walked a rabbit over to 
Rook. He took rook through the basics of riding. He was finishing: “So 
always lean forward and always remember you are armed so you don't cut 
yourself with your own weapon.” Rook got on his rabbit he took it round 
a field once then tested his weapons on dummies. Half an hour later 
patrol one rode out of the gate captain Fatty leading the group. Rook 
asked Fatty “ So Fatty where are we going?” Fatty replied `You shall 
address me as Captain Fatty, and as where we are going, it is for you 
to show us' “You shall guide us to the place where the animals attacked 
you” Rook muttered, “I'll try sir” The patrol left the stable heading 
at top speed, Fatty leading. It took around half an hour to reach the 
jetty. The Patrol got on and dismounted like before except now Rook was 
wearing gold plated armour and had a spear. The ferry ride was over 
soon and the mice reached The Dunes. They got off the ferry and the 
ferryman disappeared into the distance. Now Rook was back here he could 
see how easy it would be to get lost in this sandy country. Everybody 
looked at Rook. He studied the landscape and headed off to the east 
hopping to skip the main part of the journey. They rode for around 
another two hours then stopped, and each mouse took out a flask of 
water from a bag that was strapped to their rabbit. They also shared 
some biscuits, which would fill them up. Ten minutes later the mice 
were off again. They had reached the border of The Dunes after nine 
hours. They now faced a new country: The Water Fields. The grass was 
long and the group struggled to ride fast. Finally after six more hours 
the group of mice reached a hillock. Rook told them to dismount. They 
did. The mice walked up to the edge of the Hillock and peered over “Oh 
my bloody god!!!” 

Fatty had described the scene well with the words “Oh my bloody god!!”
Bodies' lay everywhere. Blood covered the ground where the carcasses 
didn't. Limbs and heads lay on the ground in some places. Fatty started 
walking down to the death hole. “Where are you going?” asked Rook. “We 
are here on business. So we must do business.” Fatty started examining 
bodies and poking them. He once dipped his finger in a pool of blood 
and tasted the blood. “Muddles and Matilda come here. Help examine the 
bodies. We may be able to save some.” Whiskers and Rook stood at the 
top of the hillock watching the mice in horror. “These claw marks are 
strange” Fatty commented then continued: “they don't really look like a 
bird did this, the cuts are to clean and deep.” The mice searched other 
bodies but now examining how they died. There where several other 
bodies that where strangely scarred. Fatty said, “It was not a bird 
that did this indeed, but what could have caused these horrible 
scares?” “Ah!!!!!!” A yell came from a small burrow near the bloody 
clearing. Fatty, Muddles and this time, Whiskers and Rook ran over to 
the yell. They found Matilda in a cave looking at a sight none of them 
would forget. Mice were sitting and lying on the ground, some lay 
beside a fire. But they all had one thing in common. They were all 
dead!! No one spoke then Fatty broke the silence “Come with me I have 
something very important to discuss with you” The disgusted mice 
briskly walked out of the cave. They walked back to the rabbits and 
Fatty gave an explanation. “ When I saw the weird markings on most of 
the bodies I was suspicious.   Then when Matilda found the cave it all 
made sense.” All of patrol one stared at Fatty eager to hear more. “ 
This is what happened. When the crow attacked, soon after young Rook 
had fled, the crow departed. Probably around Quarter of the mice 
remained alive. They all went and hid in the cave. Next evening or day, 
another group of animals turned up. These animals weren't hungry. But 
they killed the animals anyway.” All the mice went a pale colour. Fatty 
finished his explanation with “hope you all aren't too fond of Rats!” 
Fatty leapt on to his rabbit. “Lets go!” The other mice mounted their 
rabbits and they set off, this time slower than before and Fatty was 
leading. The mice soon got exhausted after a few hours. They set camp 
among deep grass and cuddled up to their rabbits. They took turns in 
watch. Rook was first. He stood in his armour for three hours and 
watched the stars. Then he went into deep sleep. Next morning the sky 
was a pale white colour and it was starting to get a bit cold. Patrol 
one had covered a lot of ground in the morning. They were on the 
Northeast border of The Water Fields. Fatty had been leading. He said 
he was following a trail. But nobody else claimed to see any trail. A 
few nights passed, three to be precise. It was evening. The stars 
shined in the sky. Rook was on guard duty. It was nearly going to be 
time to switch the night guards when Rook heard a faint rustle in the 
grass ahead. Rook crept forward to find in horror that he was staring 
at two rats. They both had white coats and bright red eyes. They were 
wearing tatty robes and one was armed with a sword and one had a bow. 
The tallest one had a piece of meat slung over its back. Rook nearly 
screamed. But he stopped before he made a noise. If he ran back would 
they hear him? No. Rook didn't want to risk it. Then one of the rats 
spoke. “They will all die. If we manage to capture Modseep, we will 
rule the lands. So we have sent an army to The Dunes. We have to scout 
ahead first though.” That was enough for Rook. Rook took the risk and 
ran back to camp and as quietly as he could, he awoke the rest and told 
them what he had seen. 

Fatty believed Rook. They packed up as quickly as possible then mounted
their rabbits. This time they all kept their heads down low. They rode 
and rode then rode some more all night till the sun rose. They stopped 
and made camp. The mice were deep in the Water Fields now. They where 
heading Southwest, towards The Dunes. A few frantic days passed. The 
mice, riding faster than they ever has before. Fatty Staying alert and 
watching all the mice. After a tiresome ten hours on rabbit back, the 
mice reached the dunes. They got off their rabbits and hid them in 
circle of very tall and thick grass. Patrol one strolled out of the 
grass to the mark where the sand begins. They would get a good view of 
the ride ahead of them. “Rats!!!” A group of seven rats where sitting 
round a fire. They had dark grey coats. Some had metal rings pierced 
through their noses and ears. The curios mice had been watching too 
long. “Mice!!” One mouse pointed at Fatty The mice immediately ducked 
out of sight and they all sprinted back to the rabbits and got their 
weapons out. If they did not kill the Rats, Those Rats would let the 
others know where the mice were. So using rabbits would be too noisy. 
Rook had had little fighting lessons but still he brandished a sword in 
his hand like the rest of the mice. Patrol one took up positions and 
waited for the Rats. A tense few seconds past then Matilda's eyes 
spotted a grey leg sticking out from behind a bush. Matilda raised a 
spear and hurled it at the leg. “ Ah” a short noise came from behind 
the bush and out came a Rat holding a sword. His leg was badly 
bleeding. Three more rats all brandishing swords, Charged at the mice. 
Fatty stepped forward and two swords met. Fatty's leg connected with 
the rats' stomach and the rat fell to the ground. Fatty's sword came 
down on the rat. Matilda managed to decapitate the rat that was limping 
towards him. A rat faced Rook. The rat was way taller than the small 
mouse. The rat brought his sword down onto Rook. Rook dodged it and 
managed a quick glance at the others: Fatty was dispatching his second 
foe; Muddles and Matilda were struggling to inflict a wound on a big 
fat Rat that was armed with a club. And Whiskers was nursing a wound on 
his arm. Rook looked back at his own target. He was circling Rook, 
blood coming from his mouth. “Ahh!” The rat charged Rook. Rook dropped 
to the ground and drove his sword into the Rat's legs. The Rat stumbled 
then fell to the ground. Rook ran over to Whiskers to check if he was 
ok. His arm was bleeding but it didn't look serious. The four mice with 
swords in their hands slowly met in the middle of the chaos. 
Back-to-back they waited for more Rats to come. Two Rats ran into the 
clearing. They charged at the mice. Muddles stuck his pike out the 
circle and it went through one of the Rats. Rook brought his sword down 
on the next Rat. The mice jumped and turned around to see a Rat riding 
a weasel. “Charge!!” he yelled The weasel's mouth was wide open; it was 
full of Sharp teeth. The mice dived to the sides. Fatty ran towards the 
weasel with two swords waving them around. The Rat on the weasel was 
about to javelin Fatty, when Rook sent a spear through the air it 
missed the Rat and stuck into the weasel's body. The weasel gave a cry 
and started to hop and leap around the place. The Rat nearly got flung 
off! Matilda, Muddles and fatty Formed a circle round the mad weasel. 
They all chucked their swords at the weasel's body. It worked 
effectively. The weasel dropped its head low to avoid the swords. At 
that moment Rook sprinted towards the weasel and jumped on its head. 
The rat gave a startled cry, then dropped his pike and drew a sword. 
The weasel sensing a mouse on its back, stopped dead still so to let   
its rider kill the mouse. The fight began. Rook moved forward. The Rat 
wasn't sure what to do. The Rat walked forward and then struck the 
mouse. Rook blocked the blow with his sword. The power of the blow 
knocked Rook off his feet. He landed on the tough skin of the weasel. 
The rat was walking forward, sword in his hand. Fatty took action 
immediately. He Muddles and Matilda ran at the weasel's legs. They all 
pulled out daggers and chopped at the weasel's legs. The weasel 
couldn't stand any more pain. It collapsed to the ground. The Rat lost 
its balance and fell to the ground, where Fatty finished him off. The 
four mice stepped back proudly. Fatty began tending to the other mice's 
wounds. Rook stopped dead in his tracks and yelled “Where's Whiskers!!” 
All the mice stood up, alert. They searched the area, half wishing to 
find Whiskers playing a trick on them. But Whiskers was not found. 

The mice had to hide all the Rat bodies. So they took all the bodies and
lay them aside a few metres away from the scene. Every one was helping 
except Rook. Whiskers had been his best friend, one of his only 
friends. Now he was dead. Tears rolled down Rooks cheek and then they 
joined the sea of many more. The sun would rise soon. The other mice 
were trying to all carry the weasel away. Rook decided to join them 
this once. “3.2.1. Lift!” They lifted the Weasel up it was heavy. Rooks 
eyes caught sight of something under the weasel. It was a body!!!! 

The mice buried Whiskers under ground and carved on a tree beside it:   
               whiskers A wise and noble warrior The mice had no time 
to grief over the loss. After a quick prayer they had to be back on 
their way to Modseep. They found their rabbits and set off. Progress 
was slower. They had to ride with one extra rabbit. Fatty had decided 
not to go straight to the ferry. That was just one group of rats. There 
are probably more lined up around that area. So the mice rid through 
the Water Fields for six hours till they reached The Dunes. Here they 
all checked their armour and weapons. They also ate a little and drank 
a bit of water. Then With Fatty leading, the four mice set off through 
the sand less country of The Dunes. There was a strong wind that blew 
sand in their faces so that slowed progress down. It seemed like nature 
itself was trying to prevent the Mice to reach Modseep. But after two 
days they reached the ferry and the ferryman greeted them. They where 
ferried across the water to Modseep. When they got on to dry land.  
Fatty told someone to take the rabbits back to the stables. Fatty, 
Rook, Matilda and Muddles rushed   through the king's tunnel to the 
grand door. “State your name and what you seek,” bellowed a guard. 
Fatty spoke  “ I am Captain Fatty and these are my men, I wish to warn 
the king about news from The Rats” “Fine, enter now!” The group started 
to move forward when the guards stepped in front of the doorway. 
“Sorry, only Fatty is aloud through here” Fatty walked through the 
door. He ran up to his king and gave a bow. “Sir I bring news of the 
Rats” The king said, “continue” Fatty explained about the Rats killing 
all the mice. And the conversation, that Rook had over heard.  then the 
battle, and the sad death of Whiskers. At the end the king gave a great 
sigh. Then said “ I have been expecting this moment for many years, 
don't worry Fatty, I will take care of them” Fatty bowed then made for 
the door and then the king said “ Thank you” Fatty met Rook, Muddles 
and Matilda   outside the door. Fatty told them what the king had said 
and then told them to go and relax. A maid showed Rook to his quarters. 
He shared the room with three other mice. They're where three 
mattresses made of foam. A wooden table and four chairs stood in the 
middle of the room. A small fireplace in the corner heated it and 
candles gave off the light. Three days passed and Rook played with his 
friends, and Fatty gave him some for fighting lessons. 

When the king had said `I will take care of it' He should of said “ I
will cause many deaths” Rook was one of the mice warriors chosen to go 
to fight the Rats. He was in a boat with twenty other mice. There were 
five other boats like his. His commander was Fatty. The plan was one of 
the boats would row up to the shore of The Dunes. If an army of 
bloodthirsty Rats was there, a mouse would set off a flare and the 
other boats would go in. All the mice in Rooks boat were sweating. They 
all wore gold armour with the king's initials on it. A bright light 
crowded the sky. A couple of mice pointed to it. But most of them 
thought the flare as a signal of death. When rooks boat was slowly 
making its way to shore, they all stared at the scene. Two other boats 
had landed. As soon as the door opened of one of the boats, a volley of 
arrows flew out from behind a thin wooden wall. The arrows killed half 
the mice in the boat. The rest of the mice ran forward through the 
water, trying to get to shore, when another volley of arrows mowed them 
down. Dead bodies' lay on the water, the water was red. As another 
boats door opened mice poured out. You had to wade for about five steps 
till you're on dry land.  Again all the mice got mowed down and then 
joined the dead in the water. The mice had to break the wall down. They 
were losing men all ready and they hadn't even seen a rat. Fatty caught 
every ones attention “When this boat lands, if you die, you will be 
dying for mouse kind!!” then he continued. “ So, when we land run to 
the nearby clump of rocks over there” He pointed in a direction. The 
boat docked, then the door opened. A volley of arrows came towards the 
mice but they were lucky and only a few got hit. They reached a clump 
of rocks where they would hopefully be out of sight. The plan was quite 
simple. A squad of seven brave mice would run up to the wall with 
flaming torches in both their hands. On the other side, Fatty would 
lead a group of mice up to the tower. The arrows had to fire at one 
thing or the other. 

The signal came and seven brave mice on a suicide mission ran up to the
wall. At the same time Fatty led his men around the side of the wall. 
The arrows flew into the sky, and then came down on the seven mice. A 
few remained on their feet. Fatty's mice were almost at the wall when a 
mouse with a flaming torch reached the wall and hurled the torches into 
the wood before he got shot. The wall went up in flames and screams 
could be heard from behind the wall. The mice all smiled. Then stopped 
as a Mink strolled out from behind the grand wall. The mink had a 
wooden platform built on top of it and lots of Rats with bows stood on 
the Mink. All the mice seemed to freeze. No wonder they had to hide it. 
A group of mice ran at the Mink, the mink lowered its head then ate the 
mice in one quick move. “ Ahh!!” “Help!!” The mice started to flee back 
to the boats, tripping over each other in the panic. “Don't go!!” Fatty 
yelled to the terrified men. At that moment another boat landed on the 
shore. A squad of archers got out and started to cover the Fleeing 
Mice. Rook, and a few of his men left standing with him, looked at 
Fatty. Fatty made up his mind. “Back to the boats!!” He yelled. His men 
just managed to hear him over the cries of the battle. All the mice 
fled back to the boats. The wounded got abandoned and the archers were 
left standing on the shore covering the mice. After all the boats had 
left the archers boat came. A few archers boarded the boat. A volley of 
flaming arrows flew through the sky and landed on the boat. The archers 
were stranded. The archers realised this straight away, but still 
fought and died for their kind. 

The king had been told what had happened. He took no time to come up
with a decision. A message was sent around Modseep that all mice would 
meet at the grand hall in two hours. The hospital in Modseep was busy, 
but not full. Most of the wounded got left on the battlefield. It was a 
mean thing to do, but many other mice would be dead if a rescue mission 
was attempted. Two hours Passed and all the mice had gathered in the 
Grand Hall. The hall was massive; it could fit up to Nine hundred mice 
in it, then another four hundred in the balconies. The balcony was 
taken up by the wounded. The king walked on to a stage and began his 
speech. “Welcome mice of Modseep. I will be very quick, because we need 
to save time. As some of you know, the rats have declared war. They are 
preparing to siege Modseep.” Tears came out of some eyes. The king 
continued “ Sadly, we have lost some brave mice, but let me assure you, 
they died how they wanted to, fighting to save Modseep. Any way, the 
Rats army is more powerful than we thought. It's not safe here. We ask 
all women and children to go to the hidden islands.” At this point a 
lot of women started to cry. “ Accompanying you will be one of our 
recent promoted captains, Captain Rook” Some mice politely tried to 
clap, but most were drowning in tears. A small sized mouse with a 
chestnut coat came out on to the stage. Rook said “ we leave at sunset, 
meet outside the west gate. Don't bring too much luggage.” Then the 
king and Rook walked out the door. It took a while for all the mice to 
depart from the hall. They all went to their rooms and packed some 
important belongings. Fatty, met Rook in the corridor. Fatty said, 
“Well done Rook, I'm sure you will lead the expedition well, and 
remember I'll always be here if you need me” Fatty gave a smile then 
hugged Rook. Fatty walked out the door. 

It was two minuets to sun set; the land was crowded with Women and
children. They where boarding boats. Eventually, twenty boats left 
Modseep, all loaded full of twenty women or children. Soon after the 
mice had left, another seven boats of Modseep warriors were sent to 
escort the mice. The air seemed to be full of cries and shouts. The 
journey to the Hidden Islands was long and depressing. All The Hidden 
Island was, was a hill. But many years ago, some mice had made a 
network of tunnels and caves inside the hill. There where two of them, 
One island to the North and one to the south. The island to the south 
has not been explored lately, so the mice all went to the same island. 
They were called the Hidden island because they hid behind Modseep. It 
was very hard to see the islands from the coast. The soldiers went in 
first and put up torches on the wall. Then the mice were shown to their 
rooms. A room consisted of a bed, a table and a chair. The Modseep 
warriors and Rook lived on the top floor of the island. Life went on; 
not very much of the outside world was seen. It was winter; outside was 
cold, so most mice stayed in the cave. The only down side of living 
there was that the mice weren't allowed to have fires. Fires make 
smoke. And smoke alerts Rats. The mice had been on the island for five 
days. Rook was waiting outside, in the cold. The boat with a load food 
in it was coming to shore. The mouse saluted Rook and then unloaded the 
food. When he was leaving the mouse said “one more thing sir, its 
urgent. The king told me to warn you that the rats are going to attack 
the island; I don't know how the rats know where to come but I'm just a 
messenger” The mouse leapt back onto the boat, gave a salute, then 
left. The women and children where not told what was going on. If they 
asked the answer would be “ Battle drills” The defence was made better 
and there was always a mouse on watch. 

One cold winters day two boats appeared. The mouse on watch cave a cry
because they were not food boats. The boats fitted about ten Rats in 
them. They had a spear sticking out the front of the boat. The spear 
had a mouse's head on it. Three other boats appeared, identical to the 
first one. The boats where spread out. They dragged something between 
them. It was big raft with walls. The raft was tied to a boat on each 
side. The Rats stopped their boats just off shore of the islands. At 
this point Rook managed to return to the look out point with some 
guards. “Oh my god!!” The Rats where standing on what effectively was a 
floating floor. It had small walls round the side. The boats had a roof 
now; it was made out of wood. Archers stood behind the walls. A thin 
bight white rat stood on the platform and said “Hello there little 
mice, look what we Rats have built, Its nice isn't it?” Another rat, 
taller, pushed the rat aside then said “Mice, surrender now or we will 
kill you!” 

The mice remained silent. Then Rook, remembering that he was in charge
said “ And what makes you think we won't just shoot you?” The Rats all 
laughed then pointed at two more boats coming through the fog. “Oh no!” 
The boats where full of mice. They were badly hurt and cut. They were 
all silent. The boats with mice in them docked. The tall Rat continued, 
“ If you shoot, they die!” Rook went back down to the caves. Two guards 
remained watch. Rook went to his room and began writing a letter.       
To the king.                                                            
                                                              We 
settled in well. Rats have appeared.  We are in big trouble. They have 
hostages. Please can I have more mice? Women and children have not been 
informed yet. How is it going for you? 

Rook gave the letter to a warrior who had to try to deliver it. Rook
would try to distract the Rats just in case. He went up to the look out 
tower. “ Rats, on what terms will you release the hostages!” Rook 
yelled. A rat fired his an arrow. it stuck into the rock beside Rook. 
The big grey rat said, “That was a warning shot, next time address me 
sir!” Rook saw a mouse in a boat leave the island out of the corner of 
his eye. “The hostages will be released if you unarm and surrender!” 
Rook walked indoors and tried to go to sleep and forger everything that 
was going on. The next three days Rook was trying to figure out a way 
to sneak Modseep warriors into the island. A knock came on the door. 
“Come in” A mouse walked in. He produced a letter from his bag and 
handed it to rook. Then left. Rook opened the letter. 

To Rook, I cannot help you. I am not willing to risk lives of mice,
which are trying to reach the islands. Modseep is under heavy attack. 
Sorry. You're on you own. Yours Faithfully Magisteus III 

In those few seconds after he had read the letter, Rook had decided what
to do. He had called five of the most important mice on the island, to 
come to hear what he had to say. A meeting began. They discussed about 
making a peace treaty, or even one mouse said “Let them kill the 
hostages!” Two hours later, Rook was sitting opposite a white mouse. 
Rook said “So, sergeant Higgs, do you know what to do?” Sergeant Higgs 
replied “Sir, you shall sail to Modseep. I will try to keep the Rats 
distracted. You shall be back in around a day.” “Good” Rook concluded 
then left to go to the boats. Rook got in a boat. He was nervous. If he 
died, he would not be able to get help so many others would die. He 
started to row his way to Modseep, through the late night water. The 
journey must have seemed to take ages. Rook peered out the boat. In the 
distance he saw lots of boats with Rats onboard. Finally Rook reached 
Modseep. When his boat docked, it was searched and so was he. Rook 
finally reached the town centre that now looked completely different. 
Weapons and objects and rubble lay all over the ground. Rook went up to 
a mouse “I'm looking for captain Fatty?” The mouse replied. “He has 
been put in charge of the main gate, he will be there now” Rook ran 
down a flight of steps then along a tunnel and he reached the main 
gate. There he saw Fatty lined up with other guards. He was shouting 
orders to them. Rook went up to Fatty and nudged him. “Hey, Rook, what 
are you doing here!” Rook asked Fatty if he could speak to him in 
private. “Sure” was his reply. They walked to a straw hut and entered 
it. “So Rook, why are you here?” Rook explained. He started with the 
Rats. Then went on to mention the hostages. “Oh my bloody god!” 
interrupted Fatty. Rook then went on to explain how the king did not 
wish to supply any more troops to him.                                  
                           “ All the women and children will die if we 
do not get more mice!” said Rook. Fatty said, “I just wish we could 
find a solution to the war against the Rats. I've been thinking all the 
time. We've tried a peace treaty but they won't accept!” Fatty was 
silent, then he said “I am not that surprised that the king has refused 
your request. Lately he has been acting weirdly. Some say he has gone 
mad! Personally I do think he is mad, but keep that to your self.” 
Fatty made for the door. “ Where are you going?” asked Rook Fatty 
replied  “The Hidden Islands.” 

Rook and Fatty where on board a boat. This time they where on board a
stolen Rat boat. Plenty of the Rats boats had been stolen. They set 
sail, Rook told Fatty the Rats position in greater detail than before. 
They sailed for around one hour, then, to their horror they saw another 
boat. Now they could see the Hidden Islands. A Rat stood up from the 
deck of his boat. Fatty quickly grabbed a cloth and draped it round his 
body. The Rat could only see the outline of Fatty. His mouse features 
were cloaked. Rook was ducked down, out of sight. “Where are you 
going?” Yelled the Rat. He continued, “ Go to the other side of the 
island and report to captain Folly!” Fatty gave a quick nod, and then 
changed the course of the boat. “ Now were buggered” Whispered Rook. 
Rook laid low, While Fatty rowed. In a few minutes more Rat boats 
appeared. It was dark and the Rats did not notice anything unusual. 
Twenty minutes passed. Another Rat, for going the wrong way had shouted 
at Fatty. Finally Fatty turned a corner and the two mice where out of 
sight. They studied the landscape around the, the mice where on the far 
side of the island. It would take at least a day to hike back to the 
entrance. They did not have that time. They jumped off the boat onto 
the hillside. Rook started to walk up the hill, and Fatty followed. The 
mice searched for an entrance for half an hour. Fatty had been walking 
and he had fell in a hole. The hole branched off into tunnels. The mice 
picked a tunnel and headed into the mountain. They walked for hours, 
sometimes going in circles. But they never got far. Fatty saw it first. 
The mice entered a cave and they saw the last thing they expected to 
see. It was a living thing. It looked just bigger than a full-grown 
mouse. It was cloaked in a brown cloak, and a long hood covered its 
face. Rook started to have doubts about it being living, and then it 
spoke. Its voice did not seem feminine, but it did not seem masculine 
either. “So Rook, son of Helena, and Fatty, son of Dori. You have found 
me.” Fatty said, “ what do you mean by, you have found me. We weren't 
looking for you whoever you are!” The figure replied “Yes you where 
looking for me, you even said yourself: I've been looking for a 
solution for the last few days. That's what you said” The mouse thought 
back. That was one thing he had said to Rook earlier today. Rook, who 
had been keeping quiet, said “ Hang on, how do you know what Fatty 
said?” The figure replied “ That's not important now” “ What is 
important then?” asked Rook The figure continued “Well, you've found 
the solution. I know a way to prevent the Rats from killing all you 
mice.” The two mice walked closer to the figure. Then the figure 
continued, “ You must go to Dark Wood forest. Ask for Torlina. She will 
guide you from there.” “And what if we don't believe you?” asked Fatty 
The figure replied,   “Its simple, the mice will be slaves of the Rats 
and Modseep will be no more.” Rook thought about it and then he 
muttered something to Fatty. “ Fine. We'll go” The two mice sensed a 
smile from under the hood, but then the figure started to walk away. 
“Follow Me,” The figure said. 

The mice followed the figure up a series of tunnels, never stopping. At
the top they saw daylight. Rook was about to ask how they were going to 
get off the island when the figure nodded its head in a direction. 
There, stood two crows. Rook walked over to one and jumped on. Fatty 
followed. When they where both on, the crows walked to a cliff edge. 
Rook was about to turn around to ask the figure how to ride a crow, but 
she had vanished. Fatty said “ I guess you hang on to the ears” The 
crows dived off the cliff edge. The mice plummeted down, and just 
before Rook could let off a scream the crow swooped back up into the 
air. The mice experimented with the steering for a while. As they flew 
they saw Rats. They were pointing at the mice. Some Rats started to 
open fire on the birds. The birds had somehow sensed danger and 
expertly dodged the arrows. The mice flew over the Rats and then over 
the water. The mice reached the beech of Modseep and slowed down. They 
flew over the walls and peered down. Mice where running around, swords 
in their hands. Arrows fell from the sky. Dead mice were being dragged 
away. And wounded mice where being carted away. Blood lay in some parts 
of the battlements. Some towers and walls had been reduced to rubble. 
Over the Rats, the mice now flew. Hundreds of Rats stood on the spot. 
Lots of archers were lighting arrows on fire. Tents had been put up for 
the siege. The Rats noticed Rook and Fatty but they did not have time 
to do any thing. Fatty yelled to Rook, through the screams of the wind 
“  If that thing back in the cave was right, it's all up to us, if we 
fail, so does mouse kind.” That was not a comforting thought but it was 
true. The mice flew and flew; Most of the journey was over sea. They 
had been travelling for three hours when they reached land. It was 
country taken up by one forest: Dark Wood Forest. The massive trees 
began to appear under them, and soon they could only see trees and sky. 


The crows found a clearing and slowly drifted down to the ground. Once
Fatty and Rook had jumped off the crows, they felt the hard ground. The 
crows suddenly took off into the sky, and were out of sight quickly. 
“So, here we are” Fatty commented. “ So we are” replied Rook. The mice 
walked a bit then Rook said, “ how are we supposed to find this person 
any way?” “I don't know” Fatty replied honestly The trees gave a shake. 
“ We better find shelter, who knows how long it will take to find the 
person.” The two mice walked into the forest and got swallowed into the 
darkness. The trees were so thick; the mice could not see the night sky 
anymore. After two hours of heading east, into the heart of the forest, 
the mice found an upturned tree. A big hole lay where the trunk used 
to. The mice snuggled up in the hole. The forest was dark, Very dark. 
Morning came. Even in the day, the trees blocked out most of the light. 
The two mice awoke. They took out a big sweet nut. They ate in silence, 
for they did not know what to do next. They were in Dark Wood Forest. 
Where they had been told to go. So where was this thing that was meant 
to guide them. “ It's not true!” Yelled Fatty. Rook replied “ are you 
sure, it sound true to me” Fatty went on sarcastically “oh what was the 
name of it, oh yeah, it was Torlina. Oh Torlina, come out!” Fatty went 
on saying “ Torlina come out” A figure crept up behind the mice. “ 
Someone say my name?” It said. The mice jumped and turned around to see 
a cloaked figure, almost identical to the one on The Hidden Islands. “ 
Who are you?” asked Fatty, half knowing the answer. “  I have many 
names, but now, my name is Torlina” Torlina collected some wood and 
started a fire. The mice sat round the fire, Nervous and mystified. 
They all stared into the fire for a while. Torlina broke the silence “ 
To cut a long story short I am Torlina, I am a Servant Of Destiny. 
Basically, I was put on this planet to guide living things. I interfere 
with destiny, and change it a little. There are a very few Servants Of 
Destiny.” Torlina looked up to see two mice with open mouths. “Why all 
the disguise?” asked Rook Torlina replied. “ As long as we wear the 
cloaks, we can't be seen by any one else, unless we want to be seen” 
Fatty said, “ Why don't you want to get seen?” Torlina replied, “ We 
Servants of Destiny do not want to become part of that destiny too 
much. So it is best to remain Unseen.” Torlina hushed the mice. “ Now I 
shall tell you why I am here” Said Torlina. 

Torlina started to talk to the mice. “ Let start with a tale. Thousands
of years ago, the lost city belonged to squirrels. Back then it was 
called The Great City. One night a great siege began. The Rats where 
determined to take over the city. Many Rats died and many squirrels 
died. On the last day of the siege, the Rats knew that an army of mice 
would arrive in a day. So someone was sent in with the Rats. It was a 
Servant Of Destiny” Rook interrupted “ I thought they where helping the 
mice. Like you!” Torlina continued. “Some of us are. I have before 
guided Rats against mice before. We have no sides. We just help destiny 
get along”. Torlina continued the tale. “ So a group of Rats and one 
Servant Of Destiny found their way into the city. Just before they all 
died, the Servant Of Destiny put a black glass orb in the main city 
well. Then the Servant left. Little did anyone know the orb was 
magical. It was terrible magic. For anyone that drunk out of that well 
would be doomed. Their soul would be sucked up and belong to the orb.” 
Fatty and Rook were staring at Torlina. “So if you are looking to save 
all the mice, you have to go to the Lost City, retrieve the orb and 
smash it. But to get into the Lost City you must go to The Marshes Of 
The Dead. At the point where the marshes meet the land of Grinshank you 
shall find a talisman. This will protect you from the angry souls of 
the Lost City.” Torlina paused then said, “I have now set the coarse of 
destiny. My help is needed elsewhere” With that Torlina stood up and 
walked into the night. Rook broke the silence “ so once again we have 
to find something that we have no idea where about it is. Fatty said “ 
we do know its in the marshes, hopefully destiny will guide us to it.” 
At that Rook said, “ yes destiny, I don't think I trust those servants 
any more” “  Fatty replied, “ well, whether we trust them or not, 
tomorrow we are heading into the marshes of the dead.” 

The mice awoke the next day. It took a moment before the mice remembered
the tales of last night. They packed up camp and headed what they 
thought was Northeast, towards the marshes of the dead. T he mice 
didn't talk allot, they both new what they had to do. Round a fire, two 
mice stared up at the night sky while eating a piece of meat. The stars 
where out.  The moon shone like a bright light Rook said dreamily, “My 
mum used to say, that when you die, you become a star, and watch over 
the world” He couldn't say any more. He was tired, cold and sad. He lay 
down and slept. That got Fatty thinking. Why had they come, they where 
endangering there lives, and not helping there kind, all for the sake 
of some legend, and a bunch of hooded figures. But still, Fatty lay 
down and was fast asleep. They eventually awoke. The two mice stood up 
slowly and packed their belongings. Once again they headed towards the 
marshes of the dead. They walked for an hour or so, before they saw 
her. A little female mouse was sitting down at the foot of a tree, 
singing a song to her-self. Fatty and Rook exchanged looks of 
puzzlement. They must have been close to the girls, because she sensed 
something and turned to see two pale, lost looking mice, carrying 
swords. She leapt up and ran into the trees. Fatty ran after her with 
rook behind. The chase went on for about one minute. Fatty eventually 
lost the girl. They were out of breath. Rook was still puzzled. A loud 
noise of lots of feet echoed round the mice. It stopped Fatty and Rook 
glanced at each other in terror. Then a voice spoke from the shadows, 
“who are you”, it was the voice of a rat. The mice held their sword 
handle, ready to lash out. “Who are you!” the voice repeated. Rook 
plucked up courage. “ I am Rook of Modseep, I ‘m passing through the 
forest to get to the marshes of the dead.” He finished speaking. The 
voice of the rat cut in “who is your companion?” Fatty mumbled, “I am 
Fatty, Rooks companion, seeking the same thing.” The mice shuffled, 
then started to drift over, away from the voice.  A signal must have 
been made, because what happened next, took the mice by surprise. From 
the circle of trees around them, things emerged. “What the?” mumbled 
Fatty.                                                    An organized 
group of animals stepped out of the shadows. They each were armed 
differently; some had spears, some swords and some chain male. There 
was also another thing weird; some were rats and some mice. 

The rat that had previously spoken “Greetings Fatty and Rook” Rook
looked upon the speaker and now saw a harmless rat, his skin was 
covered in mud, and like every one else he was he looked out of place. 
The rat gestured to some animals and a mouse and a rat came forward, 
they pointed spears at Rook and Fatty, who soon were marched off into 
the woods. The rest of the group followed, they moved ever so silently 
through the undergrowth. Finally they staggered into a clearing where 
wooden that was filled with huts made out of wood and mud. Women and 
children were darting round the site. One woman looked up at the group 
of animals entering the settlement, gathered her two children and ran 
into the house. The group reached the centre of all the houses; about 
twelve of them surrounded the group. Slowly the troop broke down and 
animals went into houses and back into the forest. After a few minutes 
that only left Rook, Fatty and the rat standing outside. “Martha” 
called the rat. A thin female mouse stepped out of one of the huts. She 
carried a tray with goblets of water on it and chunks of bread. She 
walked up to the animals, gave them a nod, and then handed them food. 
“Eat” she said then walked away. The rat took a bite of the bread and 
then only did the mice start to chew the bread. The rat started again. 
“You are probably wondering where you are and who you are talking to, 
we are just a band of animals. Some of us don't want war. Some of us 
have escaped from capture. Some where once lost, and some of us just 
want to live differently.” The mice stared at the rat, still unsure 
weather to trust him. The rat continued, “We have learnt to live in the 
harsh forest and get along with each other.” The rat   walked away and 
shouted back “welcome” Martha came out of another hut and beckoned to 
the mice. Rook and Fatty ran over to her. They were showed to a hut. It 
was simple, it could sleep three animals, and it had beds and a table 
in it. Martha left the two mice in the hut. “Are we expected to stay?” 
asked Rook. “ I think so” replied Rook. A few hours later, Martha   
called the mice for a meal,  It was a spectacular feast. Some rats 
entertained the group with jokes and stories. Over the meal, Fatty and 
Rook had decided it was time to move on. How ever nice the settlement 
seemed, it was not for them. They had a quest to do. After the meal the 
mice explained to the chief rat that they couldn't stay. The rat had 
said. “You go on your quest, but I will speed it up by providing you 
transport. Rook and Fatty were shown to a rabbit, it looked Un-healthy. 
The rat read Rooks mind and said “don't be fooled by her appearance, 
she will travel faster than you have ever gone. The mice mounted the 
rabbit. Fatty was at the rein, Rook sat behind. Fatty stared one last 
time at the simple village, and then kicked the rabbit hard.  It shot 
off into the trees quicker than Rook could say thanks. 

It was very scary; the rabbit weaved in and out of the trees faster than
anything they had experienced before. Several times Rook had to duck 
out of the way of an over hanging branch. The mice rode for over two 
hours, to scared to try to stop the speeding rabbit. Eventually the 
rabbit slowed down and came to standstill. Rook leapt off and lay on 
the ground and rested his hands and feet. Fatty tied the rabbit up and 
dropped to the ground, lay there and slept. It was dark when the mice 
awoke. The mice untied the rabbit and Rook took the rein and Fatty sat 
behind. One kick got the rabbit moving again. They held on tighter than 
ever, and rode into the darkness. It did not take long before the 
terrified mice reached the end of the forest. “The marshes!” exclaimed 
fatty. It was not really a welcoming sight. After travelling through 
the depressing dark gloomy forest, they wouldn't want to then be 
travelling over a big dull marsh. Rook asked Fatty a question “why is 
it called the marshes of the dead?” Fatty replied “many years ago, the 
marshes were a burial site for all animals, under the marshes will lie 
thousands of dead bodies.” Rook shuddered at that thought, and kicked 
the rabbit to continue. Progress was a lot slower; the rabbit's feet 
kept sinking into the ground. They rode on the dull marshes for two 
days. It was late evening.  The rabbit was walking slowly, allowing the 
mice to eat and drink while moving. “Look!” yelled Rook. The two mice 
turned their heads and saw on the horizon a parade of six figures. They 
were carrying a rectangular object, (about the size of a rat). Fatty 
turned the rabbit round and rode towards the figures. “What are you 
doing!” yelled Rook. Fatty simply replied, “They've seen us. It would 
be unwise to flee. They are ever so fast” Rook stared at fatty. Fatty 
stared into the darkness. The parade stopped and stared at the two 
mice. They were all wearing brown cloaks and the thing that they where 
carrying was a coffin. Fatty immediately dismounted and walked up to 
the cloaked figures. He closed his eyes. And bowed. 

Fatty remained bowing till one by one the other cloaked figures bowed.
Rook was the only one left standing up. Slowly and clumsily, Rook 
dismounted and bowed. Fatty was the first to rise. Again one by one all 
of the figures rose. One of the hooded figures spoke “ what is your 
purpose so close to Grinshank. You do know the rats have good defence 
organized. It must be very dangerous.” Another figure stepped in front 
of Rook. Rooks hand gripped round the handle of his sword. “Let me 
explain who we are. Most animals call us the death monks.  We bury all 
the animals under the marshes. Every animal that's dead and we've seen 
is under the marshes. Well...” he paused slightly confused, and then 
found the words he was looking for. “Lately the rats have been 
searching our temple. They are disturbing the home of the dead. When we 
asked them why they say that some servant of destiny has told them that 
some mice would enter the temple. Ever since they have been searching 
it.” Fatty took charge and nudged Rook out of the way. “Did you say 
servant of destiny?” asked Fatty. The monk replied, “Yes, I did” Fatty 
continued, “Let me tell you a tale” Fatty told the death monk of their 
quest. The monk concluded. 

“Very well, I shall take you to our temple if you're what's causing the
rats such panic. “Thank you” said fatty.                                
                                                 If you die, it will 
not be the monks' fault, though we shall bury you well. We will get you 
inside, in a coffin. When you have the talisman we shall carry you 
out.” The mice nodded in understanding. Te group set off, Fatty and 
Rook walking. They walked for an hour. Then stopped. Rook was 
instructed to get in the coffin. Two monks ran back to the temple to 
fetch another. Half an hour later they were back. The two mice lay in 
the coffins. Suddenly they were picked up and they began to move. 

It was bumpy, but the mice had to lie still and be quiet. Within some
time (it was hard to keep track of time) voices reached the ears of the 
mice.  The journey went with no suspicion and soon the mice heard a 
thud as their coffins hit the ground. One of the death monks said 
something to a rat. The rat shouted and called a troop of rats 
together; Fatty heard the words from a monk's mouth “ I thought I saw a 
band of squirrels sneak in from the west of the watch tower” The rats 
ran out of the temple shouting and yelling. Rook seized his chance and 
jumped out of the coffin. The temple was made of grey marble. There 
were painting on the wall of skeletons, fire, and gory pictures. There 
where several statues of animals. Rook was examining a statue and out 
of an opposite door came two rats. The rats immediately saw Rook and 
back to the door they came in. no! A death monk jumped down from a 
ledge, produced a scythe, and chopped the two rats heads off. Rook ran 
up to an alter where a wooden box lay. He grabbed the box and ran back 
and into the coffin and shut the lid. They lay there for what seemed 
like half an hour till the coffins got picked up and the mice started 
to get carried away. The departure went smoothly as well, and    soon 
the mice could hear no noise except the thudding of the death monk' s 
feet.  The coffin was soon lay down and the mice stepped out of the 
darkness into daylight. The mice travelled for four days, not seeing 
any other life form. Finally they reached the lost city. 

There was only one gate into the city. It was wide open. The mice
scrambled   through the gate. There was no one in sight. “Wow!” 
exclaimed Rook. There where many streets leading off into the distance, 
great building lined the streets, but like everything the houses were 
in ruins. Not one building was undamaged. The mice walked, not sure of 
where their feet were taking them. It was indeed a curios place. After 
five minutes of walking the mice stopped. “What” Fatty said as he saw 
Rook peering through a window. Rook replied, “Thought I saw something” 
A voice drifted from inside the building “And so you did” 

Out of the building stepped a servant of destiny. The servant said
“Fancy meeting you here, its as if destiny is making us meet” The 
servant laughed at his lame joke. Rook, Fatty, follow me.  The mice 
followed the servant till   they reached a well. “Here we are” said the 
servant. Then continued “ the orb lies in the well, you no the rest so 
get working. Fatty volunteered to go down into the well. He scavenged a 
rope and attached it to himself. “Ready?” asked Rook “Ready”, replied 
Fatty. The rope began to be lowered. Slowly Fatty disappeared into the 
darkness of the well. Ten agonizing minutes past, But eventually Fatty 
emerged with a black glass orb in his hands. “Wow, its beautiful” Rook 
remarked Fatty untied the rope and lay the orb down on the hard rock. 
He drew his sword. Held it above his head and brought it down on the 
orb. It made a big bang, but the orb did not break. The mice stared at 
the orb. Then five or so seconds after the impact the orb shattered. It 
burst into flames then an ever-bigger bang erupted from the orb.  The 
mice and the servant of destiny fell to the ground and all went black. 
They awoke. It couldn't be true. Were their eyes playing tricks?  It 
must be a dream. Fatty and Rook sat up and saw a big crowd of squirrels 
gathering around them! The lost souls! They had done it; the souls had 
been turned back into squirrels! Women and children in the crowd 
started to clap, tears of joy were in their eyes. Happiness filled the 
air. A tall squirrel walked out of the crowd. He had a sword at his 
side. He walked over to the two mice and pulled them up. “Thank you so 
much” he said, his voice was kind and gentle. Then he continued. “This 
servant of destiny has informed us on your situation. See you have been 
out cold for four days. I will return your favour, come with me” The 
mice followed the squirrel. As they walked through the city, animals 
threw petals over them, and bowed to them. They reached the main gate 
and went out. The sight made the mice gasp. Lines of armoured squirrels 
stood straight with spears. Lots of squirrels with pitchforks and 
spades stood in squads separate squads. Rows of squirrels on rabbits 
trotted between the ranks. The squirrel said, “My name is Tutters, it 
is the least I could do” Tutters nodded then added  “sir” 

The warriors had assembled. Fatty, Rook and Tutters had their separate
troops to control. The army was ready. Rook was to go into Grinshank 
first. He was to terrorize a few rat villages. Tutters and his army 
would wait in the marshes to capture any fleeing rats. Fatty and his 
men would come into Grinshank when the rat army retreated from the 
siege at Modseep. After a four-day march the animals were in place. 
Rook stared at his men, knowing that death would meet some of them 
soon. He stood up on a large rock and addressed his men. “Animals of 
the lost city! We have done our bit for you. Now help us in return. 
Remember, it was the rats that cursed you! So fight to death. Fight for 
your family, for your king, and for your freedom! Several squirrels 
shuddered but then a chant broke out. “Rook, Rook, Rook, Rook, Rook, 
Rook!” Then Rook turned and began to march towards a small rat village. 
It had to go slowly. Camp was made in a quarry not far from the 
village. It was night. A team of squirrels were about to be lead into 
the village by Rook. Thirty squirrels had begun to get into place. 
“Hide on the roofs, in farm houses, behind bushes” their leader had 
said. The bushes and the roofs of huts were holding lots of squirrels, 
all of them keeping out of sight.  Early morning came. Three hours had 
passed, its roughly three o clock in the morning. The rats had no idea 
what was about to happen to them. But no pity was felt. A male rat was 
walking along behind a row of farmhouses. He was carrying a bucket of 
water. A figure swiftly and silently dropped of a building. He landed 
in front of the rat. There was no time for a scream. With one quick 
motion the squirrel's knife sliced into the rats neck. The squirrel ran 
out of sight, into the darkness. The noise of laughter reached a 
squirrel's ears. He and a companion quickly hoped out of a bush and 
made their way into a hut. Two rats lay on seat, drinking from a 
goblet. The squirrels jumped in the building and each launched a knife 
at the rats. Two knives hit two rats and two bodies fell lifelessly 
onto the ground. Several other rats were killed, and by the time the 
squirrels had got back to camp twelve rats had been murdered. Next 
night, squirrels lined the same rooftops and bushes. It was different. 
There were signs of panic. Windows had been boarded up. No one was 
outside. Again the squirrels waited for three hours. But no soul came 
out of any huts. After an hour of waiting, Rook had changed plan. He 
jumped off a roof and landed outside a door. He gave a signal to two 
squirrels and they jumped in the window. Rook opened the door, sword 
ready. But no one was in it. Three more huts were broken into, but no 
rats. Next hut. Rook was at the door, ten squirrels on the roof. And 
some lay by the windows. A signal was made and rook entered the room.  
In the room must have been twenty rats, all cowering together. An axe 
was swung towards Rook. “Fighting back” Rook, muttered. Then he yelled. 
it was a second signal. Through the windows jumped several squirrels, 
they took the rats by surprise and the rats were left undefended. One 
by one the guards dropped to the ground. The hut was secured. Lots of 
women and children rats sat on the ground in a big group. Hugging each 
other.  Rook spoke. “We are not savage killers. We kill only who harm 
us. I will let you go in one condition. You have to go back to Modseep. 
Tell who is ever in charge of the rats that his people will be harmed 
next time, and his kingdom will fall.” A long silence filled room. The 
rats where herded out. They mounted on weasels and set off into the 
marshes. Rook shouted, “Many will die if you do not go to your leader!” 


Rook let his men rest for a few hours. A great meal was provided. The
squirrels trekked over to the abandoned rat village. There they made 
camp.  The squirrels spent most of their time resting and sleeping. Two 
days passed, not much happened. It was early evening. Most animals were 
sleeping. Some kept watch. Gazing warily into the surroundings. One of 
the squirrels that were on guard heard a crunching noise in front of 
him. He peered into the darkness. A hand gripped his mouth stopping him 
making any noise. The squirrel fell to the floor. A figure stepped out 
of the shadows. He was dirty; he had a long curved sword at his side 
and a javelin on his back. “Got you,” he said. The squirrels looked up 
clumsily from the ground then saw whom it was. He immediately stood up 
straight and said “Sorry captain Tutters” Tutters told the squirrel to 
keep a sharper eye out. Soon his force emerged into the village. They 
all looked thin and starved. Tutters found his way into a hut were he 
found Rook staring gloomily down at the floor. “We don't have a 
chance,” Rook muttered. There was a silence and Tutters said, “We will 
still fight those who cursed us. Even if it means death!” The animals 
soon got discussing the where about of Fatty. “Any news of Fatty?” 
asked Rook “Well, we met up one day ago. He said to tell you not to do 
any thing stupid and good luck.” Rook muttered in his gloomy state 
again “he should be staying to the north. Is he north of Grinshank? The 
rats were predicted to attack from the west. He needs to be hidden 
before the battle begins.” Tutters replied, “ Yes, he is north. Now I 
think we should get some rest. I have been travelling all of today.” 
Rook lay down and closed his eyes while Tutters went and checked on the 
troops. Two more days passed. Morning came. The Squirrels were checking 
all their checking all their weapons. Meanwhile Fatty and rook sat in a 
hut. Discussing an important matter. “Where is Fatty? The Rats were due 
here now, and Fatty was supposed to be here a day ago!” Rook yelled. He 
was more concerned than angry. “I have no idea, but lets just wait for 
him and hope he is in time.” With that tutters walked out the hut and 
joined some squirrels. Rook was left alone. All the sense had gone from 
Rooks mind. Where was fatty? Why had he believed some destiny tale and 
endangered his life? Why was he waiting for a hoard of rats to come and 
slice him up? Why isn't he with his friends? Some of those things he 
would never know.  He walked outside and joined the squirrels for the 
rest of the day. Later he was glad to going to sleep. He shut his eyes, 
and went off into deep, dreamless sleep. 

A squirrel waked rook up, he was sweating and was holding a spear.
“Master Rook! Get up, come quick!” Rook leapt up. Had Fatty come at 
last? Rook stepped out of the hut and saw Tutters with a group of 
thirty or so squirrels. Rook walked up and listened to what tutters was 
saying. “So, I want you to stand here, remember the tactic I taught 
you, now go!” the squirrels ran off in a direction. “What's going on?” 
asked Rook Tutters looked at Rook. “Their here. They have come. A small 
band of them entered the village. They are all dead.” Rook looked as 
white as a ghost. He then remembered his place among these animals. “ I 
will go up front, I want to see our opponents.” Rook ran up to the edge 
of the village. Efficiently, a wall out of crates, buckets, beds and 
house hold objects had been put together to make a wall. Rook reached 
the wall and saw around fifty squirrels. Chanting reached the animals 
ears and they looked up. Twenty or so rats, charged up towards the 
defence. When they were about ten metres away a volley of arrows came 
out from behind a forest.  The arrows struck the wall. A few groans 
came from squirrels. Rook looked around quickly. Nothing fatal. Almost 
at once the rats had reached the wall. Rook and many others popped up 
and swung their swords at the rats. Cries of pain and banging of metal 
rang through the air. The rats were slowly dispersed. Rook looked 
around. Three or so mice lay on the ground bleeding. As Rooks duty, he 
crawled over to the wounded and muttered words of praise and luck. Then 
they were carted away. Away from the blood,  the death. The rats. Two 
more attack like that occurred. Still, hardly any got wounded. By now, 
the scene was filled with blood. Reinforcements had been sent up. Now 
rats appeared. This time a cart emerged from the forest; one rat was 
driving the cart. The cart had no roof. Rook stared curiously at the 
cart. What were they doing? The rat got into clear view of the 
squirrels and shouted at the top of his voice. “Don't shoot me!” What 
was going on? The rat continued, “Well, before you shoot me I have 
something to tell you” He paused then burst out laughing. “On the way 
we encountered a group of squirrels. They were very thick. We sliced 
them up slowly. But there still alive, aren't   you Fatty!” Rook forgot 
to breath, the rat laughed, a voice from Fatty muttered “Rook, I'm 
sorry” He couldn't say any more, his body lay back on the cart and 
joined several other bodies. The rat said “ They are all alive. See we 
wanted to save them up” He laughed again. Rook stared at the cart, his 
heart found no joy, tears rolled down his cheeks. His weapon was 
lowered. The rat gave a yell. A group of ten archers ran out of the 
forest. Their arrowheads were flaming. The rat starred at Rook one last 
time then laughed again. “Goodbye Fatty” The rats pulled back their 
bowstring and then let the arrows fly into the sky. Time past, 
squirrels were screaming crying, praying. Tutters was now here. He was 
on his knees crying. Arrows finally came in sight. They came down and 
landed on the cart, setting it up into flames. The rat on the cart did 
not budge. He merely sat there as the flames ate away at every living 
soul on the cart. 

As the archers pulled back to fire a second volley Rook jumped up from
behind the wall. He leapt over the wall and ran up towards the cart. A 
few seconds later other squirrels had joined him. When he reached the 
cart, practically over two hundred squirrels stood faithfully ready to 
fight. Ranks where assembled and soon the whole army was in position. 
From behind the forest   chanting began, it the struck Rook how mean 
and cruel the rats were. Out of the forest emerged around fifty mounted 
rats, the rabbit they were on were all black. The formation shifted. 
The front line of squirrels all had their swords at the ready. Waiting 
the on coming hoard of rats. The rats must have been twenty seconds 
away. A squirrel stepped in front of the others and shouted,   “wait 
for it” They were only ten seconds away “Wait!” At the last possible 
moment the front line of squirrels dropped their swords and picked up 
long pikes. The surprised rats screamed but it was too late to try to 
turn around, the rats got impaled on the pikes. The pike bearers were 
covered in blood from head to toe. Out of the forest marched what 
looked like around four hundred rats.  About five minutes was spent 
just watching the opponent. Then at once around 0ne hundred rats 
charged at the squirrels.  Rook found his voice. “Fire the catapults!”  
He bellowed. A few seconds' later flaming boulders rained down on the 
rats. It must have killed quite a few rats, but their numbers still 
seemed larger. The rats were still marching, getting closer to the 
lines of squirrels. “Fire!” bellowed Rook. Once again hot rocks rained 
down from the sky onto the rats. This time after many fell the rats 
broke ranks. Archers formed a group then let loose a volley of arrows. 
The squirrels who had shields took cover behind them, those who did not 
have shields did the best they could to avoid being hit. Many squirrels 
did get hit. But the wounds were minor. A wave of rats reached the 
squirrels' front line. Weapons clashed. Blood spilled. Heads rolled 
off. Rook walked forward to fight with his squirrels. A rat waved a 
sword at him. Rook ducked then brought his sword into rat's stomach. An 
axe was coming down Rook from behind, he had not seen. “Ahh” a squirrel 
groaned then jumped in front of Rooks attacked. The squirrels blocked 
the axe then his sword went into the rat's chest. Rook nodded thanks to 
the squirrel before they both ran back into the action. Many more 
squirrels than thought at first got slaughtered; Rooks men were slowly 
getting killed. Nearly the whole of that rat wave was destroyed in the 
next ten minutes, and the animals helped the wounded. Rook called to a 
squirrel. “Go and see how Tutters and his squirrels are doing!” The 
squirrels ran into the distance. Rook shouted words of praise to the 
terrified animals. Then he walked up and looked at the tree line. In 
the trees must of lay double of what the squirrels had just fought. 
Rook wiped the blood of his arms and re sorted the formation. A hand 
tapped him on the back. He whizzed round quickly. “Sir” the squirrels 
said. “Well?” asked Rook. |  The scout said “Tutters is gone” Rook 
waved the squirrel away. First Fatty, now Tutters has presumably fled 
and left Rook to die on his own. Rook waited with his animals. Waited 
for about ten minutes. The chanting started again. The rat army marched 
out into the open. An army of about five hundred rats came into the 
open. This battle had no hope. 

Rook stepped in front of all the terrified animals then yelled. “Fight
for your family, fight for your city, and die honourably.” Rook started 
to jog towards the rats in the distance. His army followed. A volley of 
arrows was fired from the charging squirrels. They came down on the 
rats and killed a few. This was it, the final charge, and Forty metres 
away. A Storm of arrows fell upon the squirrels. Some fell, too 
exhausted to carry on. Twenty metres away the rats picked up their 
spears and knelt Down. A burst of terror struck through both the forces 
as a huge squad of animals ran out of the forest and into the rat 
flanks. They took the rats by surprise and many heads flew off, the 
front line of the rats was broken. Rook now came in contact with the 
rats. He fought his way to the ranks of Tutters and his animals. 
Squirrels died rats died. Death was in the air. Rook blocked a 
well-aimed blow to the chest. He then brought his sword into a rat's 
chest. Rook risked a glance at Tutters. He was just stabbing at a rat 
on the ground. It was a close fight. Half an hour later of blood, guts 
and death, the Squirrels were resting triumphantly. Into the forest 
fled some rats, which were soon pursued by squirrels. Rook ran over and 
hugged Tutters. “Glad to see you” Tutters muttered. It was a battle no 
one would forget. It would be told to generations below. Many died. 
Many animals lost in death forever. The wounded were seen to, many 
hundreds of squirrels' dead. Slowly, over the next hour, squirrels 
emerged from the depths of the forest. Lots of animals were crying. 
Tears of relief, Tears of pity, tears of Sadness. Soon the Squirrels 
left the scene and turned back into the centre of the village. All were 
quiet. Rook shouted commands through tears. “Take the wounded to the 
west side. Leave the dead where they are. Return to the huts and stay 
there!” Rook walked off into the village accompanying a wounded 
squirrel. Cries filled the air. Tears and blood covered the ground. 
Rook had to be in a room for several hours while wounded where lay on 
tables. A hand would yank out the arrows or clean the wound. All while 
rook was muttering words of confidence and praise. A squirrel whimpered 
as a hand went into his stomach and the words filled the room. “It ok, 
you family will be waiting for you” Later Rook walked out the hut, 
death monks swarmed round the village. They picked up bodies and got 
them ready for a service. Rook reached his hut; he went in and lay 
down. He didn't sleep. His head was filled with images of dead animals. 
Screams of terror echoed round his head.  And most of all, the scene 
with The cart. It played over and over in Rooks mind. The laughter of 
the rat, the grins of the archers, the groans from Fatty, The flaming 
cart. Rook found no sleep that night. 

Rook got up that morning. He walked outside and gazed around. Tutters
met him. They smiled at each other. “Oh come here Rook,” said Tutters, 
he hugged Rook and said, “You are a brave mouse. You showed great 
courage. I an sorry about Fatty” Tutters did actually seem sorry. Rook 
hugged him harder. “We have work to do, animals to see to” Tutters 
walked to a hut door and went in. he said, “Higgans?” A squirrel 
replied “Here” “Tunk?” “That's me,” replied a squirrel. “Doffrey?” One 
of the squirrels spoke. “He passed away last night” Tutters walked out 
the room slowly. Rook started to register squirrels. “Elm?” “Here sir” 
“Chut?” “He did not manage to get back” “Thank you muttered Rook. 
“Oak?” “No sir” replied another squirrel. “Dorsy?” “Here sir” replied a 
small squirrel. Rook walked into another hut. Four names were read. 
Three of those squirrels had not made it back alive. Rook and Tutters 
interviewed the squirrels for another two hours, till every living one 
was registered. They packed up camp and got into marching ranks. They 
then started the long journey to Modseep. They reached the water fields 
in three days. They only stopped to eat, rest and sleep. Within another 
four days they were in The Dunes. And by sunrise, they had reached the 
shore. There they stood for several minutes. Suddenly there was a cry 
and many boats came across from Modseep. Figures stepped out of them 
and shouted. “Oh my god. There back!” Boats full of squirrels soon were 
on their way to Modseep. When the boats docked at the grand marble 
castle the squirrels gaped at the grand castle. It was not as 
spectacular as before. It was damaged from the siege, holes in walls. 
Towers reduced to rubble. As they entered the gate, flowers were thrown 
down from the top of the gatehouse. Cheers echoed round the castle. 
Crowds of mice gathered round the on coming troops. The crowds fell 
silent. The flowers weren't being thrown. The king of Modseep appeared 
from on top of the gatehouse. “It is a very noble thing you have done. 
Rook and Fatty set off, they risked their lives in order to try to save 
mouse kind. Squirrels have risen and come to the aid of the mice. We 
thank you all very much.” The crowds began cheering again and the 
squirrels weapons were flung out of there hands and they where taken by 
mice to shelters to rest. Evening came. The animals where gathered in a 
great big grand hall. At least nine hundred animals could fit in the 
hall. They all sat at a huge table with the king at the end. A huge 
feast was prepared and delivered to the squirrels. Rook sat in a chair. 
Gazing around, wondering if it was here where he belonged. Shouts 
echoed through the hall. A few animals turned to see two mice running 
up towards Rook. “Rook!” they yelled. Matilda and muddles hugged Rook 
so hard Rook nearly fainted. Rook was now centre of attention. “We 
missed you Rook!” they said. “ I missed you two too” rook muttered. 
Tears filled all their eyes. “Where's Fatty?” asked Matilda. Rook 
expression changed. He burst out with tears and hugged Muddles. “He's 
gone” wept Rook. Matilda's and Muddles's mouth fell open. They started 
to cry. Tears rolled down the three mousses cheeks. Matilda and Muddles 
ran out of the hall and through the great door. The feast went on. 
Tales of bloodthirsty rats were told. Rook even heard one squirrels say 
“Captain Rook killed four rats with his bare hands!” Rook didn't enjoy 
it as much as he could without his friends there. But an hour or so 
later, the two mice returned and took a seat beside Rook. “The wars 
over!” exclaimed Matilda. “Thanks to you” finished Muddles. Rook 
glanced at the two mice and spoke. “I think this was destined to 
happen.” Rook stuffed a fruit into his mouth and laughed at his private 
joke, Matilda and Muddles burst into laughter as well, Rook just wish 
he could share the joke with one other mouse. But he couldn't. He was 
sure fatty would be watching them from the skies, looking down on the 
animals. After a filling and merry feast Rook slowly walked back to his 
quarters. A spark set off old memories in him.  Rook reached his room. 
“Goodnight Muddles” Muddles hugged Rook. “See you tomorrow” said 
Matilda. Rook hugged Matilda harder than before. He then turned into 
his room. Lay down on the bed and as he went to sleep, he thought of 
his adventure outside of Modseep. 


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