‘Brutus? Brutus can you hear me?
Open your eyes.'

Mr. Ages was standing next to
Brutus' bed in the infirmary. Brutus had been extremely lucky; the knife
entered his body right next to his heart. Other from a collapsed lung, there
were no internal organs damaged. He had been sleeping ever since he came from
the operating-room.

Brutus slowly opened his eyes and
he looked at the medicine-mouse.

‘You saved my life.' He said in a
whisper.

‘No, Justin has. He's the one who
checked on you when all the others thought you were dead. I guess they were too
busy seeing Sullivan standing up from death.'

‘Sullivan?' Brutus moaned.

‘Yeah, Sullivan is back, and so is
Jenner. He's the one who did this to you.'

‘No! No! no!...' Brutus yelled and
he tried to get up.

‘Brutus! Please, you must not get
up! I'm afraid Jenner is back, son... Dark days will enter our lives now he's returned
and I hope to God that we'll get through this. I hope Justin will get through
this...'

 

‘What are we going to do, Justin?'

Wendy was sitting up in their bed,
while her eyes followed Justin around the room.

‘I don't know what to do. The only
thing I want is to keep you safe.'

‘I know that, but you are also the
Leader of the Rats of NIMH... They count on you.'

‘To do what? I don't even know
where Jenner is.'

‘They count on you to make them
feel safe again.' Wendy replied calmly.

‘But how?'

‘Trust in yourself. Nicodemus
chose you to be the First Rat, he knows you are capable enough. And so do I.'

‘But you are privileged!
And so is Nicodemus. He's been my number one fan ever since he met me.'

‘Oh Justin! You are impossible!
You know what you are doing? You're talking yourself into a depression!' Wendy
shouted.

‘Am not!' Justin replied.

The discussion was ended when
Philip knocked on the door.

‘Sorry to interrupt, but Brutus
had been asking for you, Justin.'

‘I'll be right downstairs, Philip,
thank you.'

Philip saluted, nodded at Wendy
and left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

‘Wendy, I just don't know what to
do right now, but the last thing I want is to drown in a depression. I just
want everyone to be safe. But I just don't even know where to begin!'

‘Perhaps Brutus knows more,
perhaps that's the reason why he wants to see you.'

‘Yes, that might be the reason.
I'd better go downstairs.'

‘Yes, I guess you should. But... can
I have a kiss before you go?'

‘Do you really think that I was
able to leave this room without kissing and hugging my sweet, beautiful,
intelligent, lovely, sexy, incredible, passionate, fantastic wife?'

‘Do you really think I'd even
consider the possibility to even let you set one foot out of this room without
it kissing and hugging me?'

‘I guess that'll be a ‘no'?'

‘Oh, that's a ‘no' alright...'

Justin walked in her direction,
took her in his arms and gave her an enormous kiss.

‘See you later, Sweetness...
Please...'

‘Yes, yes... I'll stay inside with
the doors and windows locked.'

‘Right.'

 

‘Brutus? Are you awake?'

Isabella's voice sounded soft, but
nervous. She wondered why she went to the infirmary in the first place. She
slowly walked towards Brutus' bed. He was so large that his feet lay outside
the range of the bed. He was still asleep, breathing heavily.

Isabella took a seat next to
Brutus' bed. She stared at his face. His young, handsome face. She never really
looked at him like that. She never looked at anyone like that, well... except for
Justin of course. But Justin was married now, so it was no use running after
him anymore. Although Brutus was huge, he was very kind. She gently placed her
hand on his forehead.

‘I see Brutus has some company.'
Justin softly said when he entered the room. He had to hide his confusing when
he saw Isabella on Brutus' bedside.

‘Is he awake?' Justin continued,
as he stepped closer to the bed.

‘No, he's still asleep. I guess
he's not in pain. He's very... laid back.'

‘I guess they drugged him. Mr.
Ages is really good at overdosing rats you know.' Justin said with a wink.

‘Do you really think he did that?'
Isabella asked.

‘Well, he overdosed Wendy while
she was staying at the Brisby home.' He said smiling and his thought drifted
off to the day that he picked Wendy up.

‘Do you think Jenner will come
back to kill all of us?' Isabella asked.

‘No Izzy! We won't allow him!
Don't be afraid. I've taken care of maximum security. You have nothing to worry
about.'

‘But how did he get inside in the
first place?'

‘I...'

‘Justin, he didn't get in...' Brutus'
voice sounded soft and weak.

‘What did you say Brutus?' Justin
asked, while he moved closer to Brutus because he didn't want to make him
repeat his sentences.

‘He wasn't here, it was someone...'
Brutus took a gasp for air. ‘someone among us.'

‘What are you talking about? Was
it Sullivan?'

‘No, it was... it was... Philip.'

 

Justin ran up to Philips room,
taken large, angry steps.

‘Philip, open up!' He shouted. Did
Brutus really say that Philip was the one who did this to him? ‘Philip, come
on! Open up NOW! I order you to open this door!'

When Philip didn't answer the
door, he went back to Wendy's old room, where Sullivan was staying. ‘Sullivan,
I need to have a word with you.'

‘Justin! What's wrong?'

‘Where's Philip?'

‘Philip? I don't know, I haven't
seen him since this morning. Why are you looking for him?' Sullivan said while
he shrugged his shoulders.

‘Brutus claims that he has been
attacked by him.'

‘Justin, what's going on? I can
hear you shouting all across the hallway!' Wendy said. She was wearing her
bathrobe.

‘By Philip?! Oh Justin! You've
really gone too far this time! You're accusing your best friend to attempt of
murder?' Sullivan yelled, trying to get this crazy idea out of Justin's head.

‘Brutus told me himself! Ask Izzy,
she was there!'

‘Isabella was there?' Wendy asked.
This whole situation made no sense to her at all.

‘Well, yeah, but that's not
important right now! Brutus saw his attacker! It was Philip!'

‘Justin, you're scaring me. You
have to sit down and think about this clearly before you start accusing rats
who have been good citizens of this colony for ages!' Wendy walked up to
Justin, pulled his arm and forced Justin into a chair. ‘There, I'll get you
some tea and something to eat. And don't you think about getting up! Sullivan,
I've got this under control. You try to relax a bit, I'll make you some, too.'
Wendy rushed off to the kitchen to make Justin's favorite lunch; corn with
honey. When she arrived at the kitchen she saw it was completely deserted. She
didn't waste any time and started to heat the oven. Suddenly she felt as if she
was being watched. She quickly turned around and gazed directly in Philip's
eyes.

‘Oh... Philip, you scared me a
little.'

‘Sorry, Wendy. I didn't mean for
that to happen.'

‘So, what brings you to kitchen?'
Wendy asked, trying to hide her uncomfortable feeling.

‘You.' Philip casually said and he
stepped closer to Wendy.

‘Me?' Wendy moved back a bit and
took the handle of a pan in her hand, just in case.

‘Yeah!' I'm so sorry to hear the
ceremony was interrupted like that! I guess you are really disappointed.'

‘Oh, well... it's far worse for poor
Brutus. Uhm... where were you at the ceremony? I mean... I didn't see you anywhere.
I was wondering... Justin didn't put you on guard, did he?'

‘In fact he did! That's why I feel
so guilty about this entire... thing! I should have stopped the person who did
this!' Philip said and stepped closer to Wendy again.

She stepped back a little further
as he did and firmed her grip around the pan-handle.

‘I... I guess the oven is warm. I
should... sorry.' She was about to walk towards the oven when Philip stopped her.

‘Philip, please... Let me go.'

‘Wendy...' But it was too late.
Wendy had already lifted the pan and hit Philip over the head. ‘Oh God! What
have I done?' She whispered in terror and ran off to Justin.

 

‘Justin! This all your fault!' She
shouted when she entered the room.

‘Excuse me?' Justin said, while
still sitting in the chair where Wendy left him.

‘I killed him! And that's your
fault because of your accusations!'

‘Wait a minute... now you sit
down and tell me what happened.'

‘I was in the kitchen preparing
your corn when suddenly Philip came into the kitchen as well.'

‘Philip was in the kitchen?'
Justin said with large eyes.

‘Yes, he was... He said he was
looking for me to apologies for not being there to prevent the interruption of
our marriage. Well, he stepped a little too close, I grabbed a pan and I hit
him over the head.' She took a deep breath.

‘Are you sure he's dead?'

‘Well, he didn't move, and he
bleeding a little...'

‘Did you hit him hard?' Justin
asked.

‘No... yes... I guess medium.'

‘I think he's just unconscious.
Come on!'

 

‘This is where I left him.' Wendy
pointed at the empty kitchen floor.

Justin looked down at the floor
with a non-understanding expression on his face.

‘Oh, Nanny! Did you happen to see
Philip?' Wendy asked when her friend entered the room.

‘Yes, as a matter of fact I did! I
found the poor fellow here on the floor with a huge head-injury! Ages took him
to the infirmary.'

‘The infirmary...' Justin whispered
and took off without a further word.

‘Wendy? What's wrong with Justin?'

‘He... I... Sorry Nan, I'll fill you
in on the details later.' And she took off after her husband, leaving a very
puzzled rat behind.

 

When Justin arrived at the
infirmary, he noticed something strange. The bed-curtains were all closed.
Normally they would be open, so one could spot the ill from afar.

‘Justin! Slow down, would you?'
Wendy said while she was panting for breath.

Justin hushed Wendy with a simple
hand-gesture. He lowered his hand to find his sword. When he did he pulled it
out of the leather holder. Then he turned around to face Wendy.

‘Wendy, go find Arthur and stay
with him until I come to pick you up. Tell him not to leave your side until I
say so!' Justin whispered.

Wendy wanted to protest, but she
saw the urge in her husband's eyes. It was no use to oppose to him. So she
turned around and started looking for Arthur.

 

Justin opened the first curtain.
The bed behind it was empty. His heart was beating like crazy. What was he
going to find? He opened another, and found another empty bed. Someone had left
the windows open, so the white, large curtains were waving around Justin, like
ghosts in a surreal world. Justin didn't even notice the black silhouette
behind him.