‘Criminal what? What! The only thing I’ve done is let them drag me onto this ship! They took one look at me, asked my name, and then threw me down here in chains!’
‘I believe that you will be charged with being a stowaway,’ said Monckton, adding emphasis with a flick of his tail. ‘The penalty is likely to be one or two hundred lashes, which I suspect you would not survive. Or, to be quite frank, being mortal, you would definitely not survive.’
‘Lashes? You mean like whipping?’
‘Indeed. With the cat-o’-nine-tails. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?’
‘I don’t want to hear about it! Or feel it either! This is crazy. There must be something I can do.’
‘It depends upon the court,’ said Monckton. ‘I suspect there is a logical flaw in the charge, which if correctly argued would result in you being spared punishment.’
‘What is it?’
Monckton inclined his head a little to the side and looked at Leaf with one bright eye.
‘We are mercantile rats, Miss,’ he said. ‘That is to say, you tell me what you know about Arthur, and I shall act as your counsel at the court.’
‘How do I know that you’ll do anything for me once I tell you about Arthur?’ asked Leaf.
‘I give you my word as a Raised Rat and former mortal inhabitant of Earth,’ said Monckton, placing one claw over his neatly waistcoated heart. ‘In the name of the Piper, who brought us here.’
Leaf looked at the Rat carefully. He met her gaze and didn’t blink.
‘Okay,’ said Leaf. ‘I suppose I don’t have much choice. You sound convincing, at least. Better than the guy who sold my dad his last car. I was visiting Arthur in his hospital room, back on our . . . back on Earth. Arthur had an invitation from Lady Wednesday, to have lunch, and he was telling me about the House and everything. Then a giant wave came through the hospital room and swept us out to sea, on Arthur’s bed. We were getting washed up and down these really big waves when a ship with bright green sails picked me up with a rope, but they missed Arthur. I guess he’s still floating on his hospital bed somewhere. If it hasn’t sunk or been picked up by someone else. That good enough for you?’
‘It is an excellent lead, thank you,’ said Monckton. ‘It also explains why the Captain and crew of this vessel have been so tediously closemouthed and have chosen to raft up here at the Triangle. Were it not for some of the regular rats, I would not even have known there was a mortal aboard. I suppose the Mantis was meant to pick up Arthur for Lady Wednesday, and having failed in their mission, Captain Swell is biding his time trying to work out what to do next. Besides get rid of you, the unfortunate evidence of having picked up the wrong mortal.’
‘Raft up? The Triangle? Where are we?’
‘We are aboard the Flying Mantis on the orlop deck,’ said Monckton. ‘A ship of Wednesday’s regular merchant marine. The Mantis is rafted up, which is to say moored to another ship, which is moored to another ship, and so on, all of them ultimately joined to a giant triangular mooring-post that is all that remains above sea level of the old Port Wednesday lighthouse. Hence, the Triangle. Which is, of course, in the Border Sea of the House.’
‘Which is the centre of the universe,’ said Leaf. ‘At least that’s what Arthur said. My parents’d freak if they knew it was like this.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘They think there’s some big tree at the centre of the universe, with little branches going off everywhere. And animals living in harmony and being nice to each other and everything.’
‘It sounds rather pleasant,’ said Monckton. ‘If only it were so. Now, I must be getting back to my ship. I shall stop off on the way and inform Captain Swell that I shall be your counsel. I imagine the court will sit anytime within the next few days.’
‘The next few days!’ exclaimed Leaf. ‘They haven’t given me anything to eat or drink. I could starve or die of thirst!’
‘Not in the House,’ said Monckton. ‘You may get hungry and thirsty, but you won’t die from it.’
‘So you’re just going to leave me here chained up? That’s it? To wait for the court or whatever?’
‘Yes,’ said Monckton. ‘You have it exactly. A pleasure doing business with you. Good-bye.’
‘Wait!’ shrieked Leaf. But the Rat was gone. Arthur caught a flash of his tail as he left the mirror’s field of view.
‘Wait! You can’t just leave me! What if the ship sinks —’
Leaf’s shout was suddenly cut off and the mirror flickered between Leaf’s situation and Arthur’s face in the lantern light, before settling on the latter. Arthur felt a wave of nausea at the sudden change of perception, but that was banished in an instant as Sunscorch clapped him on the shoulder and whispered, ‘Arthur! Get ready, lad. There’s something coming in from the sea!’