The Meeting, Part One (Adults only please.)

"The Meeting, Part One" by T.K. Wade (Adults only please.)

Three mice sat as a table at Cedardale Inn. It was a weekly meeting that none of them ever missed. Levin was the tall one, talkative and proud. He always came with something new to discuss. Richard was the oldest, a retired soldier. War and strategy often fell from his lips. Jonas was the third, a thinker and an imaginer. The stories he fashioned kept everyone entertained.

Levin usually stole the show as everyone expected him to. He leaned over the table and asked, “Is everyone ready for what I have to say?”

Richard nodded and sipped from his cup. “I would not dream of denying you the first say, Levin.”

“Nor I,” remarked Jonas before swallowing some of his mystery soup.

Levin grinned and looked at them all mischievously. “I am sure you all have heard stories of the notorious Black Rats.”

“Aye,” acknowledged Richard. Jonas nodded.

Levin slowly sat back down and continued, “These evil rats are becoming a terrible problem. Most will agree that the disappearance of Whisker Hills is their responsibility. But as terrible as these thugs may be, the force behind them is even more interesting.”

Jonas asked, “What force do you speak of?”

“The women, Jonas. Those beautiful women that walk into battle with a fearless gaze and a lust for death that rivals even a rat’s craving for sex.”

Richard chuckled knowing that this sort of thing was just so typical of Levin. “Have you met one of these Black Rat females?”

“Oh, I ask the gods that I may never meet them. I only know what I have been told. My sources have never lied. I will tell you the truth as truth be known, but I have speculations as well.

Jonas leaned over the table slightly and urged, “Continue, Levin.”

Levin leaned back into his chair and gazed between his friends as he thought back to what he had been told. “The women of the Black Rat. I have heard quite directly of their superiority in the ranks. These men, they worship them. I would not even be surprised if you could call those men slaves. They are slaves of war, just as well as slaves of lust. These women… these examples of everything that is erotic in the deepest recesses of the mind of any rodent; they control these rats and send them out to do terrible things in the name of love.”

Jonas seemed very curious. “Love?”

“Yes, love! They love them. These rats love those women. They desire them more than anything, and I suspect, even more than their own existences. Can you imagine loving something with such strength that even your own life means nothing to you?”

Richard nodded and answered, “I have heard of such love. It’s that which causes a man to sacrifice himself for his mate.”

Levin pointed at Richard and agreed, “Yes! That is love, but what kind of love creates a slave? What kind of love would blind a rodent beyond all common sense, reason, logic; a broken person, no, like I said, a slave. Something about that I find terribly frightening.”

Jonas queried, “So, you are telling us that it is some sort of mass infatuation?”

“I think so.”

“That seems very unlikely to happen. Are there not, that you have said, a fair amount of these women?”

Levin grinned and answered eagerly, “Is that not amazing? It is as if they exist as one. One slave will see one woman and love her with all of his heart to the point of forgetting himself. She leaves. Soon, a new female joins him in the room. Obviously, she is different, but that same love that poured so openly for the first woman now pours forth for her.”

Richard released an uncomfortable sigh. “Sounds bloody unnatural, even for a rat.”

Jonas, who was still extremely fascinated, asked, “Where did they come from?”

Levin drank from his cup and smiled. “Speculation; I did warn you that I was going to speculate. I have thought of these things for a very long time. I imagined that a woman or women had started this gang to begin with. I imagined that these women would, in turn, find new women and… um… change them, I suppose.”

“In what manner would they be changed? How would it be accomplished?” asked Jonas realizing that he was doing nothing more than asking questions.

“Oh, the very fact that they are rats opens the door to so many wondrous and quite terrible techniques. Even though you are more of the imaginer, Jonas, I have thought about it in depth. I believe that it would have to be some form of torture, but then torture does little more than break the spirit. Torture can and has made slaves, but those slaves serve masters and have lost themselves entirely. So with this torture there needs to be some sort of, shall we say, sexual stimulation.”

Richard laughed from his friend’s bluntness. “Come again?”

Levin nodded to both of them and continued, “Yes, you see, she needs to be convinced that the pain is a vital part of the pleasure or even sex itself. I am not sure how it would be accomplished, but if done properly, I can imagine that she would learn to love that pain as much she loves to be pleasured. The way I see it is that, instead of becoming a slave to the torturer, she is becoming a slave to her own desires. She can then take that lust and desire and focus it with all its awesome strength on the others of her choosing.”

Jonas took a deep breath and seemed bewildered, “It doesn’t seem possible.”

Levin explained, “Well, they are rats, and I am just speculating anyways.”

Richard remarked, “It’s not so bad. He did make a point of them being rats. If there were ever a rodent that was so keen on breeding one another, it would be them. I have known many of them in my time as a soldier. When they become infatuated with one another, they make no effort to hide it. I find it irritating, but… they’re rats.”

Jonas added, “This is such an interesting concept. You really thought it out as well, whether it is true or not. If it is as you say, then I almost feel sorry for those rats. I cannot imagine living the rest of my days broken in such a way. To be sent off to my death, for the meaningless love of a woman or women that I do not even truly know. And even the thought of being one of those women makes me sad.”

Levin nodded. “I see that I have done well this evening.”

Richard replied, “Yes, you did quite good. Perhaps more soup is in order.”

Jonas agreed, “Yes, maybe a bit more.”

-Glossary-

Cedardale: A very small village in the very center of Murridae. It is most famous for its tavern where traveling rodents stop for a break from their journey.

Murridae: A country inhabited by mice, rats, and jerboas.

Whisker Hills: A colony of Murridae that mysteriously disappeared.

Black Rats: An army of rats who appose mouse rule in Murridae.