Dank smells and the dark silence assailed Justin's senses. The absolute
absence of sound enclosed and secluded him as he rubbed his shoulders. It was
as if four unseen walls were threatening to close in on him.

Thoughts of the past two years gushed through his mind, keeping him on the
tightrope between hope and utter despair. The image of Peter envelloped his
mind's eye, causing a sharp pang of pity to well up in his chest. The young boy
was now without anyone to look after him or to believe in him. He was hoping
Paul would guide him. Since his father's widow was involved in this, Justin
figured Peter would eventually want to be involved. However, he egan to wonder
how the boy would be helping or hindering the rats of NIMH.

A soft smooth note pierced his solitude and ruptured the silence. It then
rippled into an entire melody, bringing thoughts of youth and springtime to his
wistful soul. The musty air was replaced by a fresh clean breeze with the
various scents of flowers wafting through his nostrils. Bright ray of warm
sunshine shone down comfortingly on his face and fields of green grasses and
fruit plant blooms opened out widely around him.

"Justin...." the soft voice whispered to him and then he was back
in darkness.

"Yes, Mrs. Brisby?"

"What do you think is happening right now?" He heard her shuffle
up to the bars beside him.

"They're probably either looking for us or the Stone."

"How will they find us?" Her voice showed io sign of wavering to
fear, only slight concern. She's very biave indeed, he thought.

He sat for a moment, deep in thought.

"Justin?"

"I don't know. But I think they'll find a way. Maybe we could do
something."

"Like what?"

"Send a signal or escape."

"Do you think Jenner will try to find the Stone?" A hint of worry
became more prominent in her voice.

"I know he will."

"Does anyone know where it is besides you?"

"Yes two others. Paul and Peter."

"Paul and Peter," she asked, sounding uncertain.

"Paul, my second-in command, knows the location by heart and where the
Stone rests. Peter, a young orphan whoose father just died a couple of years
ago, has a map hidden in the hilt of his sword. He doesn't know it yet but I
think he'll find it in time. I just hope he doen't throw his sword away for any
reason."

"It lifts my heart a little to know that." He imagined her smiling
into the pitch blackness. But then she asked suddenly: "Who was his
father?"

Justin closed his eyes tightly and cursed himself. There was no way to avoid
it now.

"Justin, please talk to me. It's so cold here and I just need you to
talk to me."

Justin paused, his heart thumping wildly as a lump of nausia creeped up into
his throat. Finally, he forced his mouth to speak.

"Johnathan...." It came out as a hoarse whisper and was followed
by an unsteady silence. "It was your husband."

Silence.

"Mrs. Brisby?"

"How can that be?" she gasped shakily. "Why didn't Johnathan
tell me about him? Why didn't Nicodemus tell me about Peter when I saw
him?"

"They both agreed several years ago, when you were first married, that
he wouldn't tell you. They didn't want to run the risk of our colony being
exposed."

"Even after all these years...," she sobbed. "I don't think
I'll ever know everything about my husband!"

"Don't hate him......

"I don't hate him. I still love him and I always will." She paused
and turned toward the sound of his voice as if she were staring into his eyes.
"Who was she?"

"Tina was her name. She and Johnathan travelled with us for a while.
They had three children. Peter was the youngest. They seemed happy for a while
but after we made our temporary home in an abandoned library and we began to
read and learn, she became frightened and, one evening, she left us. Peter had
sneaked away from his mother and, somehow, rejoined his father and us,
thirsting for adventure and learning.

Justin paused to catch his breath.

"After a while, we had to leave the library. The humans began to come
around there and we were endangered. So we moved to the Rosebush. The rest you
know. Except that when you and Johnathan were married, he had to choose between
his young family and his son. That was when Peter became... fiery and insolant.

He's especially hard to deal with now after his father's death. His anger
seemed to increase three-fold. They never really made peace with each other
over that subject until the day Johnathan was assigned to drug Dragon"

Long moments passed with nothing said. Justin bowed his head, wondering how
Mrs. Brisby was taking all of this. Tears began to well up in his eyes.
Situations he could do nothing about began to rise up against him. The chill of
fear clutched at his heart, threatening to break his courage.

"Justin?."

Mrs. Brisby?" he gazed in the direction of her voice.

"Hold out your hand to me."

He reached out between the bars and groped aimlessly, their knuckles
collided and, finally, the two grasped each others'

hands tightly. A ray of hope suddenly dawned within him.

"It'll be alright, Mrs. Brisby. Things will work out."

"I know." she said calmly.

A thunderous click stung their ears as a bolt slid out of its slot and the
massive door opened. Bright light burned their eyes. Quickly, they released
each other as the guard came in carrying a tray of food.

"I have a plan," he whispered to her, smiling slightly.

Teresa shivered as the powerful wind blew into her. The last rays of the
setting sun slithered slowly beneath the horizon, casting a steadily darkening
hue of blue over the world.

"Everybody alright up there?" Jake shouted above the din of the
rushing air.

"All's well!" Paul shouted back.

"So where are we going?" Tula flew in close to her brother,
flanking him as she regarded the rat intently.

"We're going to a place in the city! A place that is very dangerous to
all animals,"

"And where is that," Peter asked apprehensively.

"NIMH!"

"I don't think I heard him correctly!" Brad looked worriedly over
at Peter.

"I'm sorry, Brad," Paul stated flatly. "But we're going to a
place where Jenner or whoever it is that's sending these rats after us will
never think of going!"

"Uh boy!" Peter groaned. "I'm just so excited!"

"Speaking of hiding for the night. The children and I are not used to
all this running around like you are. I think we should stop and rest for the
night"'

"We can't rest until we get to the city, Miss Shrew," Peter stated
matter-of-factly.

"Well, I'm saying that we must rest now!" the shrew insisted
stubbornly.

"There they are! Take them now! Argrith! Trexx! Jaxim! Fervowith!
Follow my lead!"

The group, startled, shot their gazes skyward as five bats dove, screaming,
out of the reddened heavans. Armored riders brandished long deadly lances and
bows as the rats sneered, feeling the thrill of battle rise within them.

"Go into a dive! Go into a dive!" Paul ordered to Jake.

Teresa's stomach dropped as the crows folded their wings and shot downward
like two black arrows. She turned her head and saw the five ominous bats
following them down. Their shapes growing larger every second.

"Fly in low! Through the trees!" Paul shouted.

"Paul, they're still getting closer!" she cried.

What dim light remained was instantly shrouded by the thick canopy of
evergreens and shedding maples. Other protesting birds and the whisking of
branches over head impaired Teresa's sense of perception, making her flaten
down against Jake's back. Suddenly, just as they were adjsting to the dizzying
conditions, a sharp whistle nipped at their ears.

"They're firing at us!" Brad exclaimed.

"Peter, hand me my crossbow! Brad, break out your longbow, and aim for
the leader!"

Brad dove his hands into one of the packs at Tula's side. He began to fight
as his bow became entangled in the straps.

"Careful!" Tula snapped. "You're shifting the weight!"

To his horror, Brad's pack split wide open, sending its contents plummeting
into the leaves. He swung his hand out and grabed what he could. He found that
he had clasped his hand around three arrows.

Paul fought diligently to steady his aim as Jake sporadically bobbed away
from the deadly shots of their persuers. His arrow flew and, unwittingly, his
shot struck a bat in the eye. Screaming, the beast carreened downward, it's
rider quickly following suit, to the forest floor. One flyer broke from the
group and followed in a vain rescue attempt, allowing himself to be exposed to
Brad's fatally accurate aim.

"That's two!" Peter affirmed, smiling broadly.

"Brutes!" Auntie Shrew spat, pressing herself closer to Tula's
back.

Peter glared at her woundedly. "Who? Us or them?"

"All of you!"

A sudden scream interrupted them as Tula strightened to a vertical position,
zooming back past them and back past the batflyers.

"Tree!" Martin cried.

Jake immitated his sister's cry and maneuver. But his momentum kept him
horizontal, continuing his inevitable course toward the monster trunk.

"Fold your wings!" Teresa screamed.

"This might sting a little!" Jake warned.

With a gut-wrenching thud, Jake slammed head-first into the rough oak trunk,
wincing terribly. Paul, Peter, Martin, and Teresa howled in fright as they
arched through the air and into the branches.

The sudden stop into the wood beat the air from Teresa's lungs, blurring her
vision. Grunting, she tried to claw herself on to the top of the slick branch,
but still she slipped to the sore edges of her fingertips.

"Hold on, sis!" Peter grabbed her wrist and yanked her up to her
feet. He pulled his sword out of its sheath, saying: "Here comes another
one!"

Gently, he pushed her aside, spreading his feet into a striking posture.

The massive form dropped down out of the sky, eyes gleaming wickedly. The
bat emmited a scream that stabbed at Peter's ears. Suddenly, he began to sway
as his world spun madly about.

Barely, he heard Teresa screaming at him through the high-pitched whine, a
look of sheer panic crossing her face. An unseen force slammed into him and
hurled him backwards, sending him falling to another branch. The red-hot pain
sharpened his woozy senses and he gazed at his left arm. A stream of blood
dribbled down his sleeve and through his fingers. The scream came again,
clobbering him with a powerful hypnotic sensation.

"Oh no you don't!" he growled, getting up and raising his weapon.
The red eyes of his opponent flared at him, almost putting him further in a
daze as the batflyer came at him again. Gritting his teeth, Peter steadied his
wobbling legs.

"Die, NIMH rodent!" the rat jeered.

"Not on your best day!" the mouse retorted, parrying the spear
away. He swung his arms back again and caught the batflyer square in the nose.
Howling, the rat fell from his mount. The passing wings of his bat sent Peter
reeling back against the trunk of the tree. He shook his head, dazed.

"Rotwood! We're outnumbered!" Jax observed nervously.

"It makes no difference!" Rotwood sneered, stringing an arrow in
his massive bow.

Jax cast a confused look at his superior.

"Just watch!" Rotwood pulled the string back and steadied his bow.
He squinted his left eye, giving his right a good deal more of his
concentration. His fingers parted and the deadly magical arrow flew, whistling
throgh the air.

The tree, from the point the arrow struck and beyond, faded to a dull gray.
Cracks began to spread themselves throughout the surface of the tree, leaving
many wide open fissures everywhere. Gasses spewed forth around the group.

"They die now," Rotwood chuckled.

"This is it, everybody!" Peter warned. "This baby's gonna
fall!"

"Head for Tula!" Paul shouted as he pulled at Jake's still inert
form hanging on the branches above him.

Dying quickly, the tree's base shattered with a thunderous crack. The rest
of the tortured oak plunged down to the forest floor, a column a dust taking
its place.

Rotwood's maniacal laugh rippled through the trees as he watched the small
party fall from the branches.

"You see, Jax!" he cackled. "Sometimes a complex strategy or
sheer numbers is not what's needed to get the job done!"

With that, the two circled away to inform their master of their victory.