above, a steady dribble of filthy, acid-saturated water which raced into the tunnels, swirled around Saul's legs, tried to pull him down, a stream nearly two feet high, fast-moving and dilute, the usual warm compost smell mostly dissipated.

King Rat had done nothing about finding food, and Saul, impatient with his self-pity, had left the throne room and gone scavenging. King Rat's leash on him was loosening. The neurotic hold he had kept for so long was almost gone. As his mood grew worse, his determination to keep Saul in his sights weakened.

Saul knew what this meant. His worth for King Rat was not measured by blood. He had not been rescued because he was a nephew, but because he was useful; because his peculiar birthright meant he was a threat to the power of the Piper. As the campaign against the Piper dissolved in petty fights and squabbles, cowardice and fear, Saul's existence meant less and less to King Rat. Without a plan of attack, how could he deploy his chosen weapon?

As Saul picked his way through the saturated tunnels he heard a sound. In a crevice in the concrete stood a waterlogged rat, her babies blind and squealing in the darkness behind her.

She stood uncertainly on the grey lip, overlooking the rush of water. She was only six inches or so above the rising stream, and the comfortable hollow in which she lived was on the verge of becoming a water sealed tomb. She looked up across the tunnel. On the 197.

far side from where she stood was another hole, an accidental pa.s.sageway slanting up away from the depths.

The rat raised herself on her hind legs when she smelt Saul, and she let forth a peculiar cry.

She bobbed up and down in the darkness, avoiding looking him in the face, yet clearly aware of his presence. Again the she-rat made a sound, a lengthy screech, purged of the sneer which usually coloured rats' voices.

He stopped just before her and hoisted his plastic bag over his shoulder.

The rat was pleading with him.

She was begging him for help.

The tone of the squeal was beseeching, and Saul was reminded of the profusion of rats who had followed him a fortnight previously, rats which had seemed animated by hunger and desperation, and which had been eager to show him respect.

Not here, was the sentiment pouring out of the bedraggled rat as she cringed below him. Not here, not here!

Saul reached out to her and she hopped onto his hand. A cacophony of infantile rat squeaks poured out of the holes in the concrete, and Saul plunged his hand further into the depths of the rotting stone. Little bodies were pushed onto his hand, where they lay squirming. He closed his fingers gently into a pro198 tective cage and drew out his hand, on which the little family lay shivering as the water level rose.

He crossed the tunnel and placed them on the ledge where the mother could pull the babies out of danger. She backed away from him bobbing her head, the pitch of her sounds changed, her fear gone.

Boss, she said to him, Boss, before turning and pulling her family out of sight into the darkness.

Saul leaned against the soaking wall.

He knew what was happening. He knew what the rats wanted. He did not think King Rat would like it.

By the time he arrived at the entrance to the throne room, the water was moving faster and the level kept on rising. He fumbled under the surface for the brick plug hiding the chute, pulled it open with a sudden explosive burp of air, and slipped through the cascade of water into the dark room below, pulling the door closed behind him.

He landed in the pool, splashed briefly onto his a.r.s.e, before standing and walking onto the dry bricks. Behind him water dribbled into the room and down the wall from the imperfectly fitting brick entrance, but the chamber was so large and the hidden sluices so efficient that the moat around the room's central island of raised brickwork became only a little fatter. It would take days of ceaseless rain truly to threaten the air in the throne-room.

199.

King Rat sat brooding on his grandiose brick seat.

Saul glared at him. He delved into the plastic bags.

'Here,' he said, and threw a paper package across the room. King Rat caught it in one hand, without looking up. 'Bit of falafel,' said Saul, 'bit of cake, bit of bread, bit of fruit. Fit for a king,' he added provocatively, but King Rat ignored him.

Saul sat cross-legged at the base of the throne. His own package contained much the same as King Rat's, with the emphasis skewed towards the sugary components of the meal. Saul's sweet tooth had survived his pa.s.sage to rat-hood. The extra richness which rot lent to fruit was a pleasure he was still indulging in as often as possible.

He dug into the bag and pulled out a peach whose surface was one seamless bruise. He ate, gazing all the time at the morose King Rat.

'I'm f.u.c.king sick of this,' he finally snapped. 'What is up with you?'

King Rat turned to stare at him.

'Shut your trap. You don't know b.u.g.g.e.ry about it.'

'You stink of self-pity, you know that?' Saul gave a sudden laugh. 'You don't see me acting up like this, and if anyone's got reason to be ... moody ... it's me. First off, you rip me out of my life and turn it into some kind of f.u.c.king ... bad dream ... So f.u.c.k it, alright, I'll do that, and I did a decent enough job didn't I? And now, just when I've got to grips with the rules of my life as Saul, Prince Rat, you get all morose 200.

and change the channel. What the f.u.c.k is going on? You ... galvanize me, get me ready, for f.u.c.k knows what, and then you just slump. What am / supposed to do?'

King Rat was staring at him contemptuously, ill at ease.

'You've no clue what you're spouting, you little gobs.h.i.t...'

'Don't tell me that! Jesus! What the f.u.c.k do you want me to do? Is my role here to f.u.c.king get you spurred again? Am I supposed to shake you up? Get you going again? Well f.u.c.k off! If you want to sit there on your rat a.r.s.e and mope, then fine. And spider-features and Loplop can join you, you're as bad as each other. But I'm f.u.c.king off!'

'Got any suggestions, you mouthy little c.u.n.t?' hissed King Rat.

'Yeah, I have. You f.u.c.kers have got to be less chicken. That's what this is about. You're all scared, and you're scared because you all want a plan which makes sure your own a.r.s.e isn't on the line. Well, it's not going to happen! You all reckon the Piper is such a bad f.u.c.ker that you've got to take him, that this is the Final Battle - so long as none of you does the actual fighting. And while we're on that subject, I get the distinct f.u.c.king impression that it was me who was supposed to do the fighting for you, but you're all still chickens.h.i.t because you can't quite work out how to deploy me without any danger of recoil or whatever.

201.

Well count me the f.u.c.k out!' Saul had worked his way into a righteous anger.

'The Piper wants you dead too!' hissed King Rat.

'Yeah, so you say. Well, unlike you, maybe I'm going to do something about it!' There was a long silence. Saul waited a moment, then spoke again.

'The rats want me to take over.'

There was a long silence as King Rat slowly swung his head to look at him.

'What?'

'The rats. In the sewers. Sometimes in the streets, or wherever. Whenever you're not around. They come to me, hover, kow-tow, and they squeak, and I'm beginning to make sense of what they're on about. They want me to take over. They want me to be the boss.'

King Rat was rising, standing on the throne.

'You little ingrate. You little Tea-Leaf,,. you little s.h.i.t, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I'll tan your hide, it's mine, mine, you understand, mine ...'

'So take a stand, you f.u.c.king has-been!' Saul was standing, glaring at him, his face just below King Rat's, their spittle forming a crossfire. 'They don't want you back. And they're not going to have you back until you ... redeem yourself. That seems to be the morality of this f.u.c.king terrain.'

Saul turned and stormed to the exit. 'I'm going out. I don't know when I'll be back, but I don't expect you to care, because you don't think you can use me at 202.

the moment. While I'm gone I recommend you think carefully about doing something. Use Loplop, use Anansi, get hold of them and track the motherf.u.c.ker down. When you're willing to get off your a.r.s.e, maybe we can talk.' He turned to face King Rat. 'Oh, and don't worry about your Magic Kingdom. I don't want to be Rat King, not now, not ever, so I wouldn't stress it. I'm going to find my mates or something. I'm bored of you.'

Saul turned and swung out of the room, was briefly coated in filthy water, and pa.s.sed into the sewers.

While Saul stalked through the subterranean realms above him, King Rat stood quivering with rage, his hands tugging fitfully at his overcoat. Eventually his motions ceased and he seated himself.

He brooded.

He jumped up again, purposeful for the first time in days.

'OK, sonny, point taken. So let's talk about bait,' he murmured to himself.

He rushed out of the room, suddenly moving as he had when Saul first saw him, sinuous and mysterious, fast and chaotic.

He pa.s.sed quickly, silently through the layers of the earth, while Saul still struggled to find his bearings. King Rat emerged into a dark street. On the other side, figures pa.s.sed in and out of the puddle of 203.

lackl.u.s.tre lamplight, keeping their eyes fixed in front of them.

He stood quite still, his hidden eyes twitching imperceptibly. He looked around him. His eyes crawled up the wall before him. He stalked forward, one foot rising in a slow arch, curving back down to earth in an exaggerated parabola, his upper body bobbing slightly. He looked up, spread his arms wide, gripped the brick wall like a lover. Silently, he scaled the side of the building, his boots finding impossible purchase, his hands gripping invisible imperfections. He drew his hands back, contracting the muscles of his arms, fixing his attention on the dark below the eaves.

His arms uncoiled, shot out. Something fluttered desperately and a family of dirty pigeons burst from the shadow, disturbed from their sleep. They disappeared into the air behind him. He withdrew his hand and brought with it one of the birds, caught and held tight, its wings trying to stretch open, unable to escape him.

King Rat lowered his face towards his captive. It stopped struggling as he brought his face closer. He held it very tight to him, stared deep into its eye.

'You don't have Jack to fear from me, little cove,' he hissed. The bird was still, waiting. 'I want you to do me a favour. Go find your boss-man, spread the word. King Rat wants Loplop. Have him track me down.'

204.

1.King Rat released his scout. It lurched into the air, wheeled and swept off over London. King Rat watched it go. When he couldn't see it any more, he turned his back and disappeared into the dark city.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

It was the first time since his solo stroll along the Westway that Saul had been alone for so long. His are was dwindling, threatening to snuff out, and he fed it carefully, maintained it. It gave him a righteous rush.

He wanted out of the claustrophobic sewers, wanted a taste of cold air. Judging by the ebb of water around his legs, the rain outside had let up. He wanted to emerge before it had fully dissipated.

Saul trusted to instinct in his rambles through the brick underworld. The rules of the sewers were different, the distinctions and boundaries between areas blurred. Above ground he knew where he was, and decided where he was going. Under the pavement he felt only a vague tugging to move from one part of the tunnel network to another, a buzzing of the troglodytic radar apparently lodged in his skull, and he would follow his nose. He did not know if he had visited any particular patch of sewer before; it was irrelevant. He knew it all. It was only the environs of 206.

the throne-room which were particular, and all roads in the underworld seemed to lead there eventually.

He ducked under low bricks, pushed his way through tight tunnels.

Saul heard the patter of feet around him, isolated squeals of excited rats. He saw a hundred little brown heads peeking from c.h.i.n.ks in the bricks.

'Hi, rats,' he hissed as he moved.

Ahead of him he saw the ruined metal of a ladder, old and corroded, dribbling its const.i.tuent parts into the stream of rainwater. He grasped it, felt it crumble beneath him, scrambled up it before it disintegrated entirely. He pushed at the cover, to poke his head into Edgware Road.

It was the end of twilight. The street was busy with Lebanese patisseries, mini-cab firms and cut-price electrical repair shops, dirty video stores and clothing warehouses with hand-drawn signs advertising their wares. Saul looked over the top of a building site across the road. Away in the west the fringe of the sky was still a beautiful bright blue, shading to black. At the base of the skyline the edges of the buildings looked unnaturally sharp.

Saul slid gently through the hole in the pavement, nonchalant in the knowledge that he could move without being seen or heard, so long as he kept in the shadows, obeyed the rules. Subtly he oozed through 207.

the opening, waiting for a gap in the flow of pedestrians, arching his eyebrows, rolling out of the hole in the ground with the smell.

He reached back to replace the manhole cover, and heard a ma.s.s of hisses. Peering over the edge, Saul looked into the eyes of dozens of rats, perched precariously on the rotting ladder.

He regarded them. They gazed at him.

He grunted and pulled the cover over the opening, but not fully, leaving a slit of darkness, to which he put his mouth and whispered, 'Meet me over by the bins.'

In a quick, odd motion Saul bobbed to his feet. He stuck his hands in his pockets, sauntered along the street past the clumps of people. They noticed him suddenly, moved aside and apart for him, frowning at his smell. Behind him a brown bolt shot out of the sewers, followed by another, then a sudden ma.s.s. One of the proprietors noticed and shrieked, and all attention focused on the manhole. By then the flow had almost finished and the rats had melted into the interstices of the city, made themselves invisible.

Saul continued walking at the same pace as the street erupted into pandemonium behind him. People s.n.a.t.c.hed themselves away from the hole in the ground.

'Who the f.u.c.k left that open?' came one yell, along with a ma.s.s of Arabic.

Saul slid into the darkness at the edge of the street.

208.

The rats had disappeared now and public-spirited citizens were gingerly shoving the metal cover back into position. Saul turned slowly and leaned against a wall, ostentatious, if only for his own benefit. He inspected his nails.

A few feet away to his right was a ma.s.s of bins, some tumbling into each other and spilling bags, the whole smelling faintly of baklava, sullied of course by filth. There was a rustling from the bags. A honey stained head poked up from the black plastic ma.s.s. More heads appeared around it.

'Got yourself some food, then?' hissed Saul out of the corner of his mouth. 'That's good.'

There was a faint screeching from the bins in reply.

A few feet away, in the world of the patisseries, those who had collaborated on resealing the sewers were laughing, unsettled. They were sharing cigarettes and looking around nervously, in case the rats came back.

Saul moved over to the dustbins.

'Alright, squad,' he said quietly. 'Show me what you can do. First alley on the left, quick march, quiet as ... mice? f.u.c.k it, I suppose so. Rank yourselves nice for me.'

There was a sudden explosive burst and a hundred brown torpedoes bolted from cover. Saul watched as they disappeared up drains, behind walls, into the darkness which dribbled down from the eaves of 209.

the buildings, into the holes between bricks. The bins were suddenly vacant and still.

Saul turned slowly on one heel in a deliberate motion. He dragged his feet, picking them up, dropping them, walking ponderously along the street. He looked down at his chest as he moved. Saul was thinking.

He felt as if he had lost all capacity for urgency.

Saul wondered what he was trying to achieve. Was this revenge? Boredom? A dare?

He was becoming King Rat. Was he? Was that what he was doing? He was not sure at all. He had not asked the rats to follow him, but he wanted to see what he could do with them.

He was aware that he should fear the Piper, that he should think, form a plan, but he could not, not now. He felt untrustworthy, confused, full of betrayal. He would show King Rat. King Rat who had not chased him, not tried to stop him, not urged him to come back.