“We hope that-but we don’t know that. And there is no point in your taking any chances as long as the thing we are looking for is here. Enjoy the break. And don’t do a thing until we find out more here.”
We found lunch waiting in our quarters. Fruit and slices of cold meatloaf on silver plates, covered with crystal domes.
“Great!” Floyd said, chomping down a slice.
“Probably minced sheot shank,” Steengo said, suddenly gloomy.
“Food’s food and I never consider the source.” Floyd reached for another slice just as our golden greeter appeared.
“A pleasure to see you musical Rats enjoying yourself. When you have eaten your fill I have a request for the presence of Rat Jim.”
“Who wants me?” I asked suspiciously through a mouthful of sweet pulp.
“All will be revealed.” He put his index finger along his nose, winked and rolled his eyes. Which silent communication I assumed meant something like you’ll find out soon enough. I had no choice. And I had lost my appetite. I wiped my fingers on a damp cloth and followed him yet another time.
Iron John was waiting for me at the door of the Veritorium where we had all seen the puzzling holoflic.
“Come with me, Jim,” he said with a deep voice like distant thunder. “Today you will see and understand all of the revelation.”
“I’ll get the others . . .”
“Not this time, Jim.” His hand closed gently but firmly onto my shoulder and I had little choice but to go along with him. “You are wise beyond your years. An old head on a young body. Therefore you are the one who will be helped the most by your understanding of this mystery that is no mystery. Come.”
He sat me down but did not join me; yet I was aware of his presence close by me in the darkness. The mist roiled and cleared and I was once again by the lake.
There was only silence in the forest around the ducky pond. As the last ripple died away the young man turned crud left without looking back. Trod the dead leaves beneath. the trees until he emerged and saw the king before him.
“There is something I must do,” he told the king, nor would he say any more. The king saw that the man’s dog was gone – the man himself was unharmed. He had many questions but , did not know how to speak them. Instead he followed the young man back to the castle. In the courtyard the young man looked around, then spotted a large leathern bucket.
“I need that,” he said.
“Take it.” The king dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “Remember I have helped you. One day you must tell me what you found in the woods.”
The young man turned in silence and made his way, alone, back to the dark pond. There he dipped the bucket into the water and hurled its contents into the ditch nearby. Another and another. He did not stop but worked steadily at bailing out the pond. It was hard, slow work. Yet the sun never set, the light never changed, the young man never stopped.
After a great period of time the water was almost gone and something large was revealed lying in the mud on the bottom of the pond. The young man kept emptying the water until he revealed a tall man who was covered with reddish hair, like rusty iron, from head to foot. The large man’s eyes opened and he looked at the young man. Who beckoned to him. With a heaving shake the rusty man rose from the pond’s bottom and followed the young man away from the pond and through the woods.
To the castle of the king. All of the soldiers and retainers fled when they appeared and the king alone stood before them.
“This is Iron John,” the young man said. “You must imprison him in an iron cage here in the courtyard. If you lock the cage and give the key to your queen the forest will be safe again for those who walk through it.”