Mrs. Brisby and The Mystery Rat

By: James Lee

Disclaimer: Nether The Secret of Nimh or any other character that will appear in this fanfic belong to me. No profit is being made of it.

Part 2

            Brisby woke up to a clanking sound coming from a distance. Getting out of bed, she walked up the stairs to go outside. Once outside, the mouse made her way up the large stone in the garden. She stopped when she saw Sandy standing on the top.

            The rat had a stick, about 8 inches long, and was swinging it around. No not swinging, dancing was more like it. Sandy thrust and twirled the stick with such an elegance that it was almost like the staff was a part of her own body.

            “High time you woke up,” said Sandy, not even slowing down.

            “How long have you been doing that?” asked Brisby.

            “About an two hours. I started with basic fitness exercises: push-ups, pull-ups, and jumps. Then I moved on to the hand to hand and weapons. I was hoping it would help me remember.

            “Did it work?”

            Sandy stopped and shook her head. “Only a little. Mostly all I got was more drills to practice. I do remember doing this with two others, but all I can remember about them is that one was a wuss and the other had the brains of a carrot.

            Brisby raised her ears as she once again heard the clanking sound. She turned to see that they were coming from the farm house.

            “The farmer’s trying to start his tractor.”

            “The tractor?” asked Brisby fearfully.

            Sandy nodded. “It’s been sitting in the cold for a while so the engine is giving him trouble.”

            “What did I tell you, Moving Day.” Brisby turned to see the old shrew making her way up the stone.

            “It can’t be.”

            “It most certainly is,” said the Shrew shaking her walking stick at the mouse. “I don’t suppose you packed.”

            “But what about Timothy? The chill in the air could kill him.”

            “Child, that tractor most certainly will. You have to get your family out before it’s too late.”

            There was a sudden roar and the three turned to see a puff of smoke and the tractor moving towards the garden patch.

            “Ahh! Moving Day!” Yelled the shrew as she jumped of the rock and ran through the garden. As she ran the old shrew yelled out, “Run! The plow comes. Run for your lives!”

            From the stone, Sandy watched as all forms of birds and animals fled from the field. She then saw Brisby run from the house with her children. Sandy followed as she noticed the mouse had only three of the children with her.

            “Hay Mrs. B, you’re short a kid!” Brisby ignored the rat as she rushed up to the old shrew.

            “Brisby, where’s Timothy?” asked the shrew surprised. Surely Mrs. Brisby wouldn’t leave the boy to be crushed.

            “Momma, what about Timmy?” asked Cynthia pulling on her mother’s shaw. Brisby handed the small mouse to the shrew.

            “Stay with Aunty Shrew. I’ve got to stop that thing!” said the mouse. Already the ground was beginning to shake as the machine came nearer and nearer.

            “Wait, Brisby stop! You’re out of your mind!” Aunty Shrew yelled as the mouse ran off towards the tractor. The shrew was then knocked aside as Sandy ran passed her.

            Brisby ran up behind the plow. Seeing a chain dangling from the metal frame the mouse grabbed on and climbed onto the top of the plow. However the vibrations of the machine were so great that she quickly fell. Only by grabbing onto a nearby string did Mrs. Brisby avoid falling in front of the blades. Climbing back on Brisby froze. She wanted to stop the tractor but couldn’t will herself to move.

            By this time Sandy had climbed onto the tractor. Seeing that her friend couldn’t move, she made way into tractor’s engine compartment. Looking around, Sandy saw the fuel line. Easily yanking the small hose from the motor, she then used it to spray the heated engine with gasoline.

            “Oh my god!” yelled farmer Fitzgibbons as flames and smoke burst from his tractor. Grabbing the fire extinguisher, the farmer didn’t notice the rat that left the engine compartment.

“Mrs. B!” yelled Sandy as she climbed onto the plow. She found Mrs. Brisby curled into a small shivering ball. Grabbing the mouse Sandy leaped into the grass.

            A short while later the farmer Fitzgibbons got the fire under control. Looking at the engine he noticed that the fuel line had broken. “Of all the lousy luck.”

            “He’ll be back tomorrow,” sobbed Brisby who was beginning to lose her self-control. “I wish Jonathon was here…”(Slap!)

            “Pull yourself together,” said Sandy, lowering her hand. The shrew, who had joined them, frowned at the rat. She however, had to agree that her neighbor needed that.

            Taking several deep breaths, Brisby looked back up. “What am I going to do?”

            “We’ll think of something,” said the shrew.

            Sandy frowned as she looked back to see a white cloud around the tractor. The cloud was from a CO2 fire extinguisher. “He got the fire under control faster than I thought. Depending on how fast he can get parts, I’d say we have two, maybe three days.”

            “The Great Owl, I bet he would know what to do.”

            Brisby looked at the shrew as if she had grown a second head. “Oh, I couldn’t do that. Owls (gulp) eat mice!”

            “Show a little courage child. We’re fighting for Timmy’s life here!”

            “I’ll go with you, if you like Mrs. B,” said Sandy. Mrs. Brisby looked at the rat then nodded her head.

Later that day…

            “Didn’t I tell ya you like flying Mrs. Bris.” Said Jeremy the crow as he started climbing in the air.

            “I-I don’t know how I let you talk me into this,” yelled Brisby as she nearly fell off for the tenth time. Sure this was the fastest way to get to the forest, but did he have to fly so high? Not able to look down, the mouse looked at Sandy, who seemed to be the very image of calm. {I wish I could be that calm and collected,} thought Brisby.

            “When we get to the Great Owl, he’ll know just what to do,” said Jeremy as he forgot his passengers and did a spin. Suddenly, the mouse lost her grip on the string and she started to fall. Without a word Sandy grabbed her and put her back at the strings around the crows nest.

            “That’s easy for you to say. O-Owls eat mice,” said Brisby as she grabbed onto the strings for dear life.

            “Ah only after dark,” replied the crow as he started to descend into a dark part of the forest. Many of the trees were withered and leafless, which didn’t help the mouse’s nerves. Landing on a branch, Jeremy started to look around.

            “That must be the Owl’s tree over there.” Brisby looked to see a particularly large and ugly tree sitting by itself. {Of course,} thought the mouse as she looked at the scary near dead tree with an uninviting hole in it.

            Jeremy quickly flew over to a branch in front of the large hole. As Brisby and Sandy got off, the mouse could hear the rat mumbling.

            “Stupid fucking dumb ass crow,” growled the rat. “Remind me to kick the shit out of him when we get back…what?”

            “Umm nothing,” said Brisby, as she stared at the rat. She hadn’t heard such language from Sandy before. Sandy then unslung her weapon. The weapon was the same staff she had been using that morning, but it now had a blade tied to it. The blade was from a small hobby knife. Jonathon had used for odd jobs, but Mrs. Brisby hadn’t much use for it. So when Sandy asked for it, the mouse gave it to her. Now it form the point of a make shift pole arm.

            “Hello, anybody here?” Jeremy nervously called, as the three walked up to the entrance. “Well looks like nobody’s home. Let’s go.”

            “He’s in there all right,” said Sandy as she narrowed her eyes. Before Brisby could ask the rat what she meant, a gust of air came out of the hole. Both the mouse and the crow were blown back, but Sandy was oddly unaffected. An eerie voice then came from the entrance.

            “Step inside my house.”

            Mrs. Brisby gulped and had to be prodded by Jeremy to move forward. As she got to the entrance she hesitated.

            “Either come inside or go away.”

            Seeing that Brisby was a little apprehensive, Sandy picked her up and carried the mouse inside. {Hmm, the inside’s more ugly than outside,} thought the rat as she carried the squirming mouse.

            “Sandy, put me down.”

            “Whatever say Mrs. Brisby,” said the rat as placed Mrs. Brisby on the floor.

            “Honestly, I can walk on my own you know,” said Brisby as she took a few steps then nearly tripped off an edge. Looking down, the mouse nearly screamed at the sight of several dozen mice skeletons. Back paddling as fast as she could Brisby bumped into Sandy, who just looked down and smiled.

            “Relax Mrs. B, the worst thing that’ll happen is you’ll be torn apart while eaten alive.”

            “Is THAT supposed to make me feel better?” Brisby asked the rat, who nodded happily. “This isn’t funny Sandy! I’ll have you know he might rather have a large dirty rat than a small mouse.”

            “Hey, watch the dirty rat comment. That’s rat profiling, and I resent it. Oh, and keep ahead of me a bit.”

            “Why, so I can be the appetizer?” asked the mouse whose attention was now completely on the rat beside her instead of the dark and gloomy cavern they were in.

            “Noooo, it’s because some evil son of a bitch is sneaking up on us!” Sandy yelled the last part out as she twirled around only to see a clawed talon come down on the giant spider that had been following them. Looking up they saw two glowing eyes open. The Owl looked as ancient the tree it inhabited. They could actually see cobwebs hanging off its brown and grey wings. {That ain’t normal,} thought Sandy as the owl’s head did a 180, its neck cracking as it did so.

            “Why have you come here?”

            Sandy jabbed Brisby in the side, to get her to responded. “P-Please I need your help. The plow has come early this year.”

            “Move your family,” said the owl.

            “Ah yes. Normally I would, but Timmy has pneumonia and he can’t go outside.”

            “You must move your house to a place of safety.”

            Brisby shook her head; there was no way she could move the house. “Please there’s got to be another way.”

            “There is no other way.”

            “Hmph, great all knowing owl my ass,” said the rat.

            “Sandy!” Brisby couldn’t believe the rat said that right in front of him.

            “Oh come on Brisby, we could have gone to shit for brains outside for those answers.”

            “Brisby?” said the owl, bringing it’s glowing eyes within an inch of the mouse. “Mrs. Jonathon Brisby?”

            “Y-Yes, he was my husband. How do you about him?” asked Brisby, praying that the owl didn’t say he was delicious.

            “That is unimportant. I will say this; his name is not unknown in these woods,” said the owl. “There is a way. Go to the rats.”

            “The rats? I don’t know any rats.”

            “What am I? A hamster?” asked Sandy.

            “In the thorn bush.”

            Brisby became thoughtful. “Oh, those rats.”

            The owl continued, “Ask for Nicodemus. Tell him to move your house to the lee side of the stone.”

            “That’s impossible. No rat could ever move my house. It’s…”

            “They have ways,” said the owl before turning around. “Now it is night, and I must go.”

            Brisby and Sandy followed the owl as it hobbled towards the entrance, favoring one leg over some long forgotten injury. Just before going outside it turned to them. “Remember, the lee side of the stone.”

            Jeremy cringed as the owl walked by. He then turned to Brisby and Sandy. “So how’d it go?”

            “He said we have to go to the rats,” said Sandy as she watched the owl silently take off.

            “Rats?” asked the crow. “What rats?”

            Both of the rodents ignored him, as Brisby repeated to herself. “The lee of the stone.”

To be continued.