“Do you know what happened today? Do you? They made
a fool of me. Me, Hathcar! Nobody makes a fool of
Hathcar and walks away to boast of it, nobody! Not on
their own legs, they don’t.”
“It was just a thought,” the rat mumbled. “It had to be
said.”
“Right. It’s been said. It’s also been forgotten.” The rat
said nothing.
“How about smoking them out?” suggested the wolf.
The cuscus let out a derisive snort. “Don’t you think
they’ve already thought of that? If they haven’t tried to
break out, it means they aren’t worried about smoke; and
if they aren’t worried about it, it probably means it won’t
work if we try it.”
“Could we,” suggested the rat, “maybe force our way in
through the roof?”
Hathcar sighed. “You’re all looking at the obvious, all
of you. I’m the only one who can see beyond the self-
evident. That cursed four-legs led them straight here, so
he’s probably telling the truth when he says he knows it
well. He wouldn’t box himself into a situation he wasn’t
comfortable with. He says they can slip out anytime and
hide somewhere else twice as strong. Maybe he’s lying,
but we can’t take that chance. We have to take them here,
while we know what we’re up against. That means our
first priority is to get rid of that horned meddler.”
“How about moving a couple of archers in close?
Those with good night vision. If they can sneak up against
the wall they might get a clear shot inside.”
Hathcar considered. “Not bad, except that if they don’t
snuff the unicorn right away that fucking water rat’s likely
to get ’em both. I’ve never seen anybody shoot like that.”