The Twyning by Terence Blacker

Author:Terence Blacker [Blacker, Terence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7420-5
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2014-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

. . . and nothing a human does is to be trusted without question. Humans were, are, and always will be the enemy.

The youngest ratling will learn this truth with its mother’s milk. In the life of a rat, death is never far away. The hatred that humans have for us is a daily reality. There is no understanding why they are naturally evil. It is enough to know that they are.

And yet here I was, growing stronger by the day. My head was full of something that seemed like a human revelation. The enemy had a name. Caz. The only doe I had ever loved, Malaika, would rest in her hand. I would even see her sleep there sometimes.

From the moment I grew fur, citizens had looked at the white mark on my head and mocked me for the trace of fragile blood it revealed. Now I feared that the fragile in me was allowing me to grow too soft and trusting.

I had to leave that place. I would save Malaika from the enemy, and together we would return to the world below. The kingdom is good. A ratling can grow to be great. I had seen enough of the reign of Jeniel to know that citizens were not threatened only by humans. There would be a danger in returning, but I had no choice. It was my home, and I was needed there.

And yet . . .

The sounds and smells of humans nearby were now almost a comfort to me. The revelations of Caz began to seem almost natural. I confess that I was glad to feel them within my head.

— How are you this morning, Efren?

— My legs are stronger. I can drink.

— Stay with us. We are all a family here.

What could I say? How could I explain that I knew of human trickery, of the deadly danger of them, that all I wanted to do was take Malaika away to the safety of the world below.

When she asked me again and again to stay, I would not reveal in reply. Eventually Caz would go away.

One night, Malaika and I went on a little journey out of the mountain. It was not forever (I knew that Malaika was strangely tied to these humans), but she needed to see me away from this place. With me, and back in the kingdom, she would begin to understand freedom, the true way of the rat.

I was still weak, so we were unable to travel far. Malaika showed me the eating places where humans left portions of their unfinished food. She took me to a spring where we drank and rested, then to a small wood where, she said, we would find eggs as the year grew warmer.

— But we shall have gone by then, Malaika.

My revelation was gentle, and she had heard it before.

— Perhaps.

She looked into my eyes, and I felt a lurch within me that was so strong that a noise, a small squeak of longing, escaped from me.

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