Hamelin Stoop: The Ring of Truth
Chapter 1
The Dark Commission
The Watcher of the Tree, the River, and the Pond wrapped its long serpentine body around a wide horizontal limb of the ancient tree. Its fruit, once plundered, had rotted and failed, but its rich roots lay deep, awaiting the water that would produce a new season of fruit.
Warming itself with the life flowing within the branches, the coiled creature, with the head of a rat, slowly blinked its beady eyes. A sleepless prisoner of the shadows, it slouched toward the strip of light that shone through the branches above, stirring itself around its chosen limb but unable to settle, its sticky skin leaving smudges in the timeworn bark.
The shadow of Chimera, the Murmurer, slowly darkened the narrow swath of light, and the snake body felt the rumblings of the Murmurer before the rat ears could understand its kinsman’s words. Not wanting to hear—but having no choice—the Watcher waited for the slowly emerging coherence of the breathy sounds of Chimera.
“O Cousin, your seed of years ago failed to stop Carr’s second daughter.”
The beady eyes changed to oval spheres, and the lips curled to deliver the reply in a hiss, the mother tongue of the Murmurer. “No matter. The girl is dead.”
“We are no longer sure of that. There are rumors she lives.”
“So your son’s trackers failed?” The twitchy mouth almost smiled.
“Ren’dal’s failures need not amuse you,” said Chimera. “Certainly no more than yours if she passed this way and you failed to detect her.”
“I have no record of that!”
“Nor would you have a record of your own failings! But I remind you, both our tasks—yours to watch the tree, mine to gain a throne—are threatened if she lives.”
The coiled body tightened around the branch. The serpent’s rat head breathed out its reply: “What do you suggest?”
“The obvious. The trackers will pick up the trail again. We must confirm whether she is alive. And if she is, they will eliminate her. But if she ventures as far as the cave, it falls to you to stop her from reaching our side.”
“I can do more than that,” said the Watcher. “If your trackers find her, inform me, and I will project my will even beyond the portal to sap hers.”
“Do that if you can,” said Chimera, “but do not interfere with the trackers! They have their work to do first, then you.”
“They are too slow, and they are fearful of me and my kindred creatures. I will guard the portal, but I cannot leave things to your trackers. I shall send my own special offspring to the cave. If there’s anything suspicious there, she will find it.”
“That far she may go. But immediately report to me what you learn.”
“The report will be simple,” squeaked the rat head. “If my seven-headed seed finds Carr’s daughter, she will kill her.”
“She must first confirm the girl’s identity. We can tolerate no mistakes.”
The snake-like body straightened up, and the rat eyes blinked slowly. “My special offspring can burn the body with pain or freeze the heart with fear. If she finds the daughter of Carr or someone she suspects, she will probe her mind, and the girl will give up her secrets. And then—”
“Your lazy confidence deceives you,” hissed Chimera. “The daughter of Carr, if she has truly survived, is no longer a child. She will have unusual protectors on the other side, and she is therefore learning who she is. She will be alert. If your special messenger fails, she will become stronger still.”
“O Murmurer, your fears do you no credit. My special messenger—”
“I tell you, if she lives, she has been nurtured by hope and is already strong. She will long to return to her place, to experience who she is. Such a one must not hinder our access to the four thrones.”
“My special seed will not fail.”
“But if she does?”
The serpentine creature slowly raised its upper body from around the branch, its face morphing, more snake than rat. “Do you challenge me? I would gladly do it myself, but like you, I am restrained and cannot go there!”
“Neither of us can,” said Chimera. “But the day will come when we can! In the meantime, if the girl is over there, I shall work through Ren’dal and his trackers. And you, if you expect to keep your place, must use all the weapons of your warfare to do the same.”
The creature’s head and long upper body waved left and right, in and out. “My special offspring will not fail, because even from here, I will energize her work.”
“Do what you must, but do not hinder my plans,” said Chimera.
“Keep the trackers out of my way.”
“The trackers are part of my plans. Make sure yours do not fail!”
“I do not make plans that presuppose failure!” squeaked the rat voice.
“You would never have escaped the Pits!” said Chimera.
“I was never such a failure as to be sent to the Pits!”
“Your expectations delude you again,” hissed Chimera as he moved toward the Watcher.
“No more talk! If my seed finds her, she will die! Rest assured.” The serpentine rat wrapped its full body again around the tree and looked away.
“I never rest,” said Chimera.