Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: [BDAY] [MG] I get ta be the good guy! No, I do! Message-ID: References: <1ttksn$jip@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu> Date: Tue, 25 May 1993 21:42:08 GMT [ADMIN] Large parts due to Dreamer. 0-0-0 Two children were sitting on a wall looking out over the bay. It was a warm evening and the wind off the bay was comfortable rather than chilling. "I is still hungry. You wants I can bring ya some eats, maybe some water?" Kev stood as Little Rat shrugged noncommitally, and ran down the wall to where the knotted-sheet ladder waited. He came back a few minutes later, and dropped a waterskin and a couple pieces of fruit by her side, then slumped bonelessly down to watch the sunset. After a while the fireworks started exploding. Little Rat fiddled with a fraying end of a rag pretending to be her clothing. She had decided to tell Kev about the Gutt Man to show him how tough you have to be to live in the Low City by yourself. "Now hear dis Kev. I's only gonna tell it once, so you better listen good." She started without turning her eyes from the fiery flowers in the sky. "I is listenin'." "Well, ya see, dere is dis guy what we kids call da Gutt Man. We call him dat 'cause he takes dumb kids like you an' takes dere gutts out. Den he puts dem all over da place and dances and laughs like a mumbly old beggar. 'Cept he got dis knife see. He got dis knife dat could cut stones is half. If you don't get smart like me, he is gonna catch you and put your insides on da outside." While saying this, she tried to fight down her rising fear. It wouldn't be good to have a fit in front of the kid. "I ain't afraid." Kev said this in something resembling a growl. Little Rat figured that his throat was sore, so she continued. "Well, dat's too bad 'cause when you is scared, ya run. Dat's what I did, no shame neither. If he catches ya, he don't kill ya fast with no sticker, he takes da knife and he cuts ya real slow 'cause he's real sick in da nog. Kev, dis don't mean dat I like you or nuffin', but I seen what he does ta us kids an' I don't wanna see it happen no more. 'Sides, dat guy 'Raelf would throw me back to da street if I let dat happen." Little Rat shuddered as pictures of the Gutt Man's horrors flashed in her mind. "Ain't no one try ta stop him?" "Nope, he got da Dark Man on his side dat make him real strong an' fast." She shivered remembering the hand grabbing her anlke. "Well, I say we get him," Kev said seriously. "WHAT? Are ya outta your nog? You is a looney one Kev. Maybe we otta lock you up with stupid ideas like dat." Little Rat tore her eyes away from the pyrotechnic display to look at Kev. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw his face. It was set in a look of fierce determination making the boy seem much older than his six years. "Kev, I think I otta get 'Elya. I think dat you is gettin' da sickness or sumthin'. You is scaring me with dat look." Kev shook his head, startled. "Nah, you's right, he would gutt a kid what doesn't know how ta fight or nuffin, but somebody gots ta get him. Din't you fight wif' him though? You still gots all yer gutts on da inside, right? You's skinny enuf, looks kinda like he mighta got ya." Little Rat narrowed her eyes at him. He was giggling, and so she had to punch him on the shoulder, but he fell over laughing and she decided that he was just bein' silly. She shook her head, sure that he'd be dead before the cold time came again, if he went back onta the street. Fireworks continued exploding, loud and bright and just a bit TOO pretty. 000----000 Little Rat was bored. Kev had been sulking in his room all morning. He was fun last night, making up all sorts of dumb stories. She wandered out into the big room that looked out on the ocean. The sun was shining in, and it made her feel sleepy, and she didn't want to go back to sleep. Something bright was moving around on the surface of the waves, some kind of a funny looking boat, the guy was standing on it and flipping a sail back and forth, hopping up and down on the waves. Stupid. A big lizard-fish was sure to see him and fly down and eat him. She still wasn't sure about that huge open area, it didn't look real. There was a sound from outside, so she ran across the room and out to the garden. The lady wizard was there, in the garden, digging a hole. She saw Little Rat and waved, so Little Rat went over to where she was digging. "Good morning, did you have fun down at the celebration?" "Uhm, yesm. Howdja know we was there?" Little Rat began twisting her rags again. She was embarassed, not because she had done something wrong, but because she got caught. "Oh, magic," the lady wizard said teasingly. "Really, I was down at the market and I saw you there." "You's not mad at us?" "Just remember to be careful, watch out for bad people. Kev saw that Ramesh slaver before you did. You werent' paying attention." "Oh. But I dunno what a Ramish slaver is." "They steal children, and women and sometimes men, and they take them far away to the land they come from and they make them work until they die, and if they won't work, they hit them with whips or have their bad magicians cast spells on them so they have to work." "Work's not bad." She said this with conviction. "Yes, but they don't trade for it, they just take it." "Dat is bad. OK, what's dey look like, so's I can tell?" "I'll show you in a little bit. First you need to pay us for staying here, so help me dig this hole out and we'll plant this new tree here." "It's a pretty tree. Howcome it gots red leafs?" Little Rat picked up a shovel, changed her grip like the lady wizard showed her, and began digging. "Just the way it is. Most plants have more green so that you can't see the red underneath. The green is how the plant gets its food, it makes the dirt and the sunlight into more plant, and when the sunlight goes away in the winter the green goes away and the red or yellow shows." "So when da cold time comes an' da leafs gets all yellow it's cause of no green?" "Exactly. You're very bright, Little Rat." "Hafta be. Stupid peoples don't last. Charlie gets 'em, or da worms or da bad water an' dey dies an' da crocs eats' em." "Well, you've made the hole big enough. See the sack that the tree is in? The hole has to be twice as big around as the sack, and about twice as deep. All the roots are in the sack. Did you ever grow plants before?" "Nuh hun. What's roots for?" Little Rat was sure she knew, but she wanted to know what the wizard lady would say. "Suppose you tell me?" "But I's just a kid, I dunno dat kinda stuff," Little Rat protested, then she saw that 'Elya was kinda laughing, but not laughing too. She looked like she might be gonna cry. Little Rat looked into her grey eyes, and blinked. There was a woman, short and kind of skinny, sad-eyes, slack-faced, starin' with the look of one of the 'stix girls from the cuddle cribs that was too close ta the Shun. The other eye, there was da same woman, but dis time she looked like one a' dem town guards, tough an' had shiny armor on an' everything. "Oh dear. I think it might be about to rain," the wizard lady said, looking away as she patted the dirt in around the plant. Little Rat was kind of scared for a moment, seeing things in peoples' eyes like that, maybe she was off her nog, but then she remembered this was a wizard lady, an' so it was probly just some wizard thing. "Little Rat, would you please carry the bucket with the garden supplies over to the garden shed and put them inside," 'Elya asked her, as she poured water around the newly planted tree. Little Rat complied, then it did start raining a little, so she went into the doorway to wait for it to stop. It started raining even harder. 'Elya walked up, dripping wet, and chuckling to herself. "Howcome you gots wet?" Little Rat asked. "Can't wizards keep da rain off dem?" "Sometimes, but it isn't always good to mess with the way things are supposed to be. Besides, now my hands are all clean." Little Rat looked at herself, and ran out into the rain for a minute to get the mud off her rags. When she came back, the wizard lady had a big fluffy hot dry cloth, and she dried her off, which surprised Little Rat a lot. "You should be careful, little one. You might get too cold if you let yourself get soaked, and then you could catch the coughing sickness." "But I was gonna go inta my room an' stay until my stuff got all dry," Little Rat replied. She knew about not getting too cold, Trawm had let her huddle in his kitchen sometimes, or she'd got in one of the old grain boxes by the stables. "Well, now that you've helped me with my plants, I think I should pay you back. What would you like for breakfast? You can have anything you want." "Sammidges," Little Rat said emphatically. "Like dem ones from da party. Dey was real good." 'Elya laughed. "You got it, kid." She led her charge into the dining room: a loaf of fresh bread was set on a table, and some sliced meats and some big crispy leaves and a little bowl with some white and yellow and brown stuff in it. "Now, Rat, this is how you make a sammidge. Do you want me to call you Little Rat? It seems like an unusual name for a girl as pretty as you." "Ahh, I ain't pretty," Little Rat replied, blushing, "Lissa's pretty, I's just ordinary. Are you gonna take my name away? Mister Lancos said ya might wanna do dat." "Your name is yours to keep or change, Little Rat. But I'm pretty sure your mother didn't call you her Little Rat. I bet she had a different name for you. Do you want me to find out what it was?" 'Elya continued showing Little Rat how to cut up the bread and meat and spread the seasonings onto her sammidge. Little Rat was careful to check for white worms, but she was pretty sure by now that these wizards were like the rich folks that Kev told her about, they wouldn't have white worms. "I ain't got no remembers a my mother. She got da sickness when I were real young and died." She paused. "I wudda died, but Iramus found me first. He were like a mother ta me, 'cept he were a boy. He always called me Little Rat, so dat's my name..." She paused again and then tilted her head and looked up at ar'Elya with a half smile on her face. "Can you really learn dat? About my name I mean?" "Yep." "Well, dat sure would be neat. I ain't never thunk 'bout my name much. I guess Little Rat is a dumb name for a little kid. I dunno. It would be a big thing, 'Elya, I gots ta think 'bout it, dere's not a lotta stuff I could do for ya dat was good enuf ta pay ya for it." Little Rat carefully duplicated the sammidge, until there were four of them that she set on the plate together. 'Elya poured a glass of apple juice for each of them, and they sat down at the table. "All right. If you figure out a good trade, tell me and I'll help you find out the name." 'Elya took a bite of one of the sammidges, tasting it carefully and swallowing. "Not bad, not bad at all. You make a pretty good sammidge, kid. Tell you what, when you finish your breakfast, how about I show you some games?" "I's too old for games." "Oh, but I'm not, and I need a playmate, will you help me? It's boring to have to play all alone." She grinned and Little Rat stared at her for a moment then started giggling. She finished her sammidge and helped clear away the dishes, then followed 'Elya to one of the rooms that she had been warned not to enter. The door opened on a big room with racks and racks of clothes and things, with a painted folding screen and a long tall mirror at the far end. "Wow, you's rich, so many clothes an' stuff..." Little Rat muttered, awed at the expanse. "Oh, no, dear one. These are just magical lets-pretends. See, if we take them outside," and the wizard lady took one of the sillier hats out into the hall, where it dissolved into smoke. "Why di't go all smokey?" "It wasn't real, the magic in the game room made it. It's like when you dream - it seems real until you wake up." "Oh. Dat's neet." Little Rat went cautiously into the room. When nothing strange happened, she followed 'Elya to the mirrors. "Okay, so this is going to be a really easy game. We're going to play dress-up. First I'll put something on, and I come out and you try to guess who I am. Then you dress up and I try to guess who you are." Little Rat nodded gravely and 'Elya laughed. She went into the racks and came away with a handful of dresses. Then, after going behind the screen, clothes began to fly into the air. When she came out, she was wearing a shiny silver helmet and bright red hair in a long braid down her back, and she had a heavy shiny shirt made out of little rings of metal. "I know. You is a guard." A little white cat with black ears came out from behind one of the clothes racks and sniffed curiously at Little Rat's foot, then rubbed against her leg. "Right. Your turn." 'Elya picked up the cat and shooed it towards the door. Little Rat thought for a second, then gathered some stuffs and went behind the screen. She came out a moment later, wearing a white wig and black leather jacket covered with rubber spiders, and holding a wavy-bladed wooden knife. "Well. It looks to me like you're a Drow priest. The one from the story you were telling about when you helped Alfvaen to rescue Ellestrae." "Yup." Little Rat made realistic faces into the mirror. 'Elya gathered some more clothing, and went behind the screen. When she came out, she was wearing a really ugly old fashioned dress that hid all her body, and she had a big white scarf that she wore over her head like the old lady farmers, and a cloth hood that covered all but her face. She looked older than usual. "Dis is hard," Little Rat said, then inspiration hit. "I gots it. You is a priest of Issek, like da ol' droopy-drawers what comes around an' gives away da fish soup in da cold time." "Pretty good, child," 'Elya said in an old-lady voice, "But I'm not a priest of Issek. I'm a servant of the unnamed gods." "What's da dif?" Little Rat said, digging in a box for a feather boa and some shiny cloth. "Oh, the gods who can be named are powerful, but they all draw their people into their stories. The ones who have no stories and who aren't named, they're the ones who help people without making them into something they shouldn't be." "Huh?" Little Rat stepped out from behind the screen, and the dour expression on 'Elya's face broke up in a wrinkled smile. Little Rat was wearing a poison-green sparkling cloth wrapped around her body, with a long feather boa and in her hand, a bubble pipe. She vamped in her best nine-year-old style. 'Elya hid her laughter behind her wide cloth sleeves and said in a choked voice, "Lady Ale. From the place where you went with Kev yesterday." "OK, it's yer turn now." Little Rat continued gesturing and posing with the bubble pipe, trying to look mysterious and alluring. 'Elya came out from behind the screen, wearing a long red silk dress covered in embroidered dragons. She had a long blond wig too. Little Rat blew a bubble out of the pipe, and pronounced judgement. "You is a princess. But you does magical stuffs too." "You're very perceptive today," 'Elya smiled. "That's exactly right. Most people don't notice the princess part when I dress up like this. I have a Lady Ale costume, too." "She's neet," Little Rat replied. "She gots lots of folks what works for her and dat kinda stuffs." "She thinks that's a secret, too." 'Elya smiled, as Little Rat carefully put the pipe and the boa back in the box where she'd found them. "What's your next one?" "You gots ta guess." Little Rat came out from the screen wearing very brightly colored shorts, and a "Megadeth" tee shirt, and sunglasses, and she had a stick that she used to mime someone practicing a staff form. She was making a ferocious growling noise, and 'Elya smiled. "That looks like 'Raelf when he's practicing." "Nope. It's Kev." She hit an imaginary bully with the stick. "What?!" 'Elya aid, shock mirrored in her eyes. "Yeah, dat was all he wanted ta do dis mornin'." "Did he try to make you do it too?" "Yeah, he sez it was fightin' but I think he's a looney." She executed a pretty good parry-riposte and 'Elya smiled wryly. "Little Rat, there's something very important you should do for me. If you ever see Kev acting that way, you just whisper my name and I'll come help." "I tho't he was sick in da nog." Little Rat pursed her lips in a very serious, worried expression. "He might be, so you have to be careful." "Okay." Little Rat yawned and stretched. "I wanna go in my room now. Is we done playin' yet?" "For now. Thank you for playing with me. If you want you can keep one of the costumes. I'll make it last outside of the room." "Ok. Can I have da stuffs wit' da pipe?" "Sure." When Little Rat woke up from her nap it was because she was thirsty and had to go. She came back to her room and Kev was there, sitting on her mat on the floor. He had a smile that made Little Rat feel shaky, it reminded her of the smile that creepy drow had when he was waiting to stick Princess Else Tree. She wanted to back out of the room but he stopped smiling creepy and got up. "Hey, ya wanna practice fightin' some more?" he asked. "Nuh uh. You is not s'posed to be in my room wit'out askin." "Sorry. Can I be in your room?" "I guess so. If ya doesn't try ta make me fight." "Ok. I gots a secret, Little Rat. I did one." "What? Ya did one what?" "I got one a dem slavers. I dropped a rock on his nog." "You is lyin' ta me. You din't." "Did too. See, I gots his ring." He pulled a big flashy ring out of a pocket. It had blood in it. "He was gonna take dis girl ta his boat, an' I got real close an I stuck him in his jools wit' my stick, an' he fell down an' da girl gots away, an' he got after me an' he chases me ta down by da docks an I waits for him ta chase me down in da place by where da sea wall goes, an' he comes up unnerneefs of da wall, an I was uptop wit' a big ol' rock, an he shows his greasy beard an I drops da rock, his nog makes dis big splut noise an' all dis cool red gunk comes out, an' he flops like a seagull when ya cuts off it's birdy nog, an' den I goes down an' gets dis ring, I wuz gonna give it ta da girl what he was chasin' but she was gone." Kev polished the blood off against his shirt. Little Rat listened, fascinated but uneasy. Kev wasn't a hard case like the kids down in Low Town, and the cold way he had lured the man to his death made a cold lump settle in her gutts. "Kev, dis isn't right, is it?" She sat down next to him. "Hey, he hasta get paid back, right?" "But you's a kid. 'Sides' dere was more of 'em, right? Ya kilt da one, but dere was others." She grabbed the stuffed dragon toy that had been sleeping in her room during the day, and hugged it while she talked. "Yah, so we gots ta go figger out how ta off da others. All da folks what does bad stuff, all da folks what does all da t'ings what hurts kids an' den we gots ta punish da folks what does mean t'ings ..." "Kev, is you jus' gonna kill folks what ya never met? An' den when ya's kilt off all da folks what hurts kids what is ya gonna do den? Kill more folks?" She felt hot wetness on her cheeks, and rubbed her face on the dragon toy. "Ya gots ta stop it, Kev. We ain't da guards, we can't jus' go killin' da bad folks, even if we knowed who all da bad folks was. Cause sometimes da folks does bad stuff but dey isn't bad, like when da guy what juggles on da corner by da Spittin' Cobra gets a lots a janglies, he gifs us kids jobs an' den he feeds us. 'Cept if he got troubles wit' his cuddly girl he gets all nasty an' runs us offa da corner." She rubbed her eyes on the toy dragon's tail again. "Ya gots ta use da nog, Kev, ya can't jus' go killin' folks cause sometimes dey isn't bad, or sometimes it is jus' a axident. You is jus' a kid, you doesn't know if someone's a bad guy or if dey's a good guy but dey isn't doin' da good stuff. Like when I hadda steal stuff 'cause I was starvin'. Stealin' ain't right, but I hadda do it or I was gonna die a da sickness or sumthin'. Is you gonna kill me den too? Waddabout you, is you gonna kill you 'cause you does bad stuff sometimes, too?" "Oh." Kev was sitting with a shocked look on his face, then looked at the ring in his hand. He blinked and tears started to run down his face. "'Elya, help," Little Rat whispered into the dragon toy. "Hello, Little Rat," the droll voice from the doorway surprised them both, and the girl looked up. The wizard lady looked very pretty, with a shiny silver dress with arms that had pleats and folds that looked like wings. "Hello, Kev. You've been hard to find today." "I think I did somethin' bad," Kev whispered. "I kilt one of dem Ramish slave guys but Little Rat sez dat I coulda been wrong an' he was a good guy." "Was the person you killed really a slaver?" "'Course he was, dis is da ring he had," Kev showed the bright ruby-and-gold object to the wizard lady. "See, it gots da snake cut in da back, an' he had da iron shackles in da boat." "But Little Rat is right, you can't just go killing people just because they're doing something that makes you mad. There are good people and bad people, but you aren't old enough yet to tell the difference." She looked him in the eye. "You tell ME why you killed him." "'Cause he was bad an' 'cause he wasn't ever gonna stop." "No hope that he might change?" "Why would he do dat? Folks don't change." "They grow up, don't they?" "Yeah, but if dey does a bad thing dey needs ta get paid back for it." Kev set his mouth in a sullen pout. "But I is all confuzed now. I got mad at da slaver an' I jus' wanted ta make him hurt like da folks what he'd made hurt." "Come here, Kev." She held her arms open, and when he went over to her and she gave him a hug, it looked like a big bird with its wings around him. Little Rat sniffled a little, and then blinked - the shiny silver dress had made a flash like looking at the sun, and Little Rat felt like she had been carrying a big heavy rock in her chest that just went away. "Now tell me again, why would you ever want to kill someone?" the wizard lady said, and Kev just shook his head. "Dat's dumb. Why would I want ta kill someone? Dey is folks too, right? An' Little Rat says dat some of dem is bad 'cause dey is hungry or 'cause dey is sad an' dat we doesn't know." "Good answer." She gave Little Rat's dragon toy a pat on the head and went out into the hall. Little Rat went to the door and looked after her, but she was gone.