Chapter 27: A Nest of Rats
It seemed that the brood of rat things in this section of the city were large enough in number to sleep on the surface. There simply was not enough space in the sewers to accommodate their vast numbers; they stuck close to the sewers and alleys, but their pups slept in ramshackle buildings and holes carved into the brick. It was an abandoned section of the city, in the middle of Blood Hawk territory, and it seemed that they kept it empty just for their grotesque pets. That they allowed the rat things to live in the heart of their territory was proof of their collusion and corruption.
If nothing else, Kail could put an end to their hideous playthings.
A broken fence lined with bits of bone showed their territory. Some decaying skulls with bits of rotting flesh clinging to the bone stuck on pikes sent a crude but effective message: outsiders not welcome. Taking a breath, Kail crossed through the ramshackle fence to the other side, feet crunching on the bits of bone and scraps of rotting flesh.
He could hear the scratching of claws, smell the putrid stench of the rat things that hung damp in the air. A massive brick building with broken windows and towering stone columns stood before him, a remnant of more pleasant times. Before, it had housed trade princes and merchants, now it housed scavengers and aberrants. Webbed cracks ran up the stone, even the foundations of its construction questionably sound. Claw marks on the brick that ran up to the roof showed evidence of its newfound occupants.
There were footsteps from the side, and Kail quickly hid behind some rubble and ruin, peeking out as two men approached. They were pushing a cart filled with raw meat, its origins unknown yet almost certainly human in nature. Hurriedly, they emptied the contents on the doorstep of the building before hauling the cart off, presumably to feed the next brood of rat things. "Quick," one of the men hissed, "before they wake up and throw you in with the meal."
He needed no more proof of the Blood Hawks' implication. Kail patiently waited for them to leave before rising, nearly stumbling on a bone while making his way over to the building. The rat things would be weakest now, while still sleeping; he needed to hurry.
The weathered door with its marble frame and bronze knocker reminded Kail of the stories he knew about ages past. Those stories of heroes made his heart ache with a dull throbbing, but he ignored it. The intricate shapes and carvings in the metal were long since smoothed over by age and abuse. Yet they were a mere memory now, nothing more.
With a grunt, he leaned on the door with his shoulder and pushed it open, the time-worn hinges groaning as it slowly creaked with the characteristic resistance of disuse. After it had barely turned halfway, there was a shrill screaming sound of tearing metal as the hinges broke, the door collapsing with a thud on the tiled floor, a thick plume of dust rising from the impact. So much for damnable stealth, Kail thought as he coughed.
Slabs of broken stone and shattered brick crumbled around the wreckage, obstructing Kail's entry until the air cleared. He carefully picked his way through the debris, shoving aside the fallen pieces of the doorframe. After passing through the rubble with some difficulty, he slapped the dust from his clothes before looking around at his surroundings. The noise was sure to have woken at least some of the rat things; he would have to be careful.
Inside the building was dark; all of the former candles had long since burned out, as the rat things had no need for light. Broken tables and torn carpet on shattered tiles sparked a fleeting sense of former grandeur. Faded paintings covered with mildew hung on the walls, and the weathered silver banisters indicated that this was once a place of great beauty and splendor. Even in the peeling paint, there was evidence of faint patterns and designs that had been painstakingly fashioned to cover the entire building. There was even a ornate chandelier that hung from high above in the ceiling, the glass bits already broken and littering the floor, but a metal frame still creaking on its hinges. Dried wax capped the tips of its prongs as it swung gently in the air.
Kail suddenly stopped, sensing danger in a primal part of his mind. He heard clicking. Above him.
Spinning around, he dropped into a crouch as a rat thing fell from the railing on the second floor onto all fours. The tiles under its feet cracked with the power of its claws, its yellowed teeth sharp with bits of greying flesh trapped between them. Beady white eyes bulged in too-small sockets, darting to focus on Kail. A short hiss slipped out of its throat, skinny arms and thick legs bunching up with a sudden elastic tension. Without a moment's hesitation, it leaped onto him, claws tearing holes in the air.
The rat thing had pounced quick as lightning, but Kail's shield was already up. Its entire body struck his arm with immense weight, but he slanted his arm so that the force was redirected, sliding off him as the metal claws raked into the rat thing's stomach. It shook his arm and jarred the bone, but better that than having a broken arm. With a grunt, he swung the hook over and around, striking the rat thing in its back, and pulled out with the chains, ripping across its spine. A fountain of thick, black blood sprayed out of the gaping wound, and the creature collapsed, twitching limbs still clawing at the air. Its mangled corpse fell to the floor with a thud, a horrible stench of waste and sewage rising from its skin.
As he flicked the blood off of his hook, Kail heard a chittering in the rafters above him. A clacking of nails on tiles. A putrid stench of fetid waste and decaying flesh. With the pale moonlight that filtered in through cracks in the wall, he saw the gleam of white eyes surrounding him. A slow hiss emanated from the waking mass of rat things.
"Hungry…" croaked a dry voice as one rat thing, larger than the rest, groggily plodded closer. "So hungry...let's eat." Its white eyes shone as they swiveled to find Kail. "Please…please…" the whisperings continued as more and more of them woke, stirred by their hunger and the scent of blood. A chattering laughter rose from the rat things as they inched closer, more and more waking from their sleep around Kail. With a hiss, they suddenly surged forward like a tide of disease and decay, pouncing onto Kail with an insatiable hunger that drove them well past the brink of madness.
It was a flurry of claws and snapping teeth that greeted Kail as they pounced. They swarmed out of the rafters, out of rooms in the back, from under tables and broken tiles. They swarmed out of holes in the wall and climbed down the walls. They were an unyielding tide that gave him to room for pause, no space to breathe. He could deal with the rat things, but not in these numbers. He had to thin them out.
The bodies of the former orphans changed as a result of the magic that turned them into beasts, the spell even enhancing their tenacity and durability with an increased rate of healing from wounds that stemmed from a voracious appetite. While he was uncertain of the specifics of their anatomy, Kail did know that in their current half-sleeping state where they were still waking slowly around him, they were easily confused. Reaching inside his pockets, he pulled out three small metal pellets. They were a mixture of brimstone and and saltpeter, enchanted with magic to serve as a spark. They were Sir's tinkerings; the old man always insisted that spells were never a substitute for ingenuity. While the small balls were harmless, they were still useful as distractions.
He hurled them into the surging masses, the dim moonlight glinting as he saw them land amidst the crowd. When the metal struck the tiles, the spell sparked, igniting the powder and producing a loud explosion and plume of dust. The rat things' blood was already up. When the smoke cleared, Kail could see them wrestling with one another, clawing and biting one another. Yet he had brought more of the toys as well. In an instant, the rat things became a writhing mass of bodies and corpses piling on top of each other. The smell of blood and dead bodies drove them into a feeding frenzy, and more rat things leapt into the growing mountain in the center of the room. It was a grotesque mound of bodies and blood, with shrieks and yelps of pain filling the air.
It was disgusting how the animals devolved to their primal urges. The room had fallen to madness, with the creatures clawing at one another in their hysteria. Some males had mounted females and were breeding in the confusion. Other feasted on the dead that covered floor, hungrily tearing strips from their brothers and sisters. They had all lost interest in Kail, who was standing by the shattered doorway.
"A life Sir could be proud of." Kail reminded himself quietly as he pulled out a canister of lamp oil with a rag, match ready in hand. Even if nothing else, he could at least finish off these monsters.
Even if he did not have magic, Kail could still turn the room into an inferno. Setting the rag alight, he hurled the canister into the chaos. The flame burned bright as it caught, as it devoured the rat things, their oily hair and dry skin quickly catching ablaze. The smell of burning flesh and squeals of panic filled the room. They beat at their chests and clawed at themselves in their futile attempts to stop the growing flame. How quickly, he remarked, did the madness had changed to terror.
Quickly, Kail grabbed his things and ran out the building before the hulks of metal and brick came crashing down. The old building had crumbled to rubble, licks of flame shooting out as twitching limbs and bodies littered the debris. Hundreds of their pups and rearers had been killed in the fire. But it was not enough, it was only one nest. There would be more of them, surely. Without a sound, Kail turned and ran.
The fire had drawn attention: their cries filled the air and he could hear their scuttling below him. There was another group of rat pups by the entrance to the sewers, where the water emptied into massive drains that led under the city. They had already woken, and he could sense their confusion as they looked in the direction of the fire. They had yet to notice him as he hid in the rubble behind a slate of stone, peeking out from around the side. The older ones were too busy keeping the pups in check. One pup in particular got too excited and its rearer clubbed its face, blood spraying into the air. The others hissed at it as it dropped on all fours. Reeling, the pup pounced onto another rat thing and the two tumbled onto the ground, snapping at each other's faces and clawing wildly. Some other rat things whooped with delight and joined the two, biting at flesh and limbs. Quickly, the mass of bodies grew as more rat things joined the pile. It was remarkable how quickly the situation resembled the previous one.
Kail thought that they almost did not need his help as he reached for another canister of oil. As a was preparing to light it, however, a scrabbling sound filled the air as more rat things streamed out of the sewers. They were older, not like the rearers and pups. These ones were larger, covered in scars with patchy skin stretched over thick muscle. In an instant, they pounced onto the pile of bodies, ripping apart limbs and bone with ease as they quickly devoured the mass, devoured their own kind in voracious cannibalism.
Not even a minute had passed before the wave receded, the surface-dwelling rat things now only stains of blood on the ground. The crowd parted as a massive rat thing came forward. The beast was taller than Kail, with thick hide covered in oily gray hair and black claws that clacked on the ground. Two pale scars ran across his face, leaving his eyes blind. Patches of skin without fur evidenced further battle wounds, but its muscular frame and healthy constitution showed its triumph. The massive rat thing sniffed at the smoke-filled air slowly before it turned to face Kail's direction, slimy tongue darting across rows of sharp teeth.
"Come out, meat...I can smell your fear..." came its garbled hiss.