Book 1

We the Little Folk

June 1898

The Thames Estuary

At the mouth of Father Thames, where the sewerage system designed by Joseph Bazalgette decides that it may rejoin the river without inconveniencing Londoners, two mice were looking out of an outflow pipe.

One was a petite brown female, wearing a simple red dress and with long head-fur tied into a pony-tail. The other was a corpulent white male, wearing a white three-piece suit that somehow managed to be spotless even in the sewer. The effect of white clothing on white fur was, his companion thought, somewhat disconcerting. On his pristine white cravat was a tiepin with a red lacquered head, bearing the monogram "D.M." in gold.

"I've considered your offer, Mr D'Angermouse," the mousemaid said in an American accent with a slight trace of Russian. "I discussed it with your ship's captain when he took me here from New York."

"I'm gratified to hear it," D'Angermouse replied smoothly. "And your decision?"

"Well, why me?" she asked.

"The Colonel and I have noted your younger brother had a variety of ... 'adventures' in the United States," replied D'Angermouse, with the quotation marks around "adventures" clearly audible to indicate his distaste for such chaotic events, "However, while he tended to get caught up in situations beyond his control, and make it work through a combination of luck and wishful thinking, you largely maintained a practical attitude and level head. That's the sort of thing we prefer at Rodent Intelligence."

"Makes sense," she nodded, "I guess I'm in. So now I pick up the other people on your list, right?"

"The ship remains at your disposal, Miss Mousekewitz. I shall tell the Colonel that you are on board. In both senses of the phrase."

"You do that," said Tanya Mousekewitz. "In the meantime, I suppose I'm heading for India."

She hopped off the pipe lip and made her way to where what appeared to be a miniature galleon, exactly the right size to be crewed by rodents, was waiting. The name VERMIN was written on the prow.

Watching her go, D'Angermouse produced a silver cheese-case from his pocket and took a slice thoughtfully, before frowning at the realisation that a single speck of dirt had dared to land on his suit. "Such disrespect for the work of the finest tailors in Gloucester," he murmured as he brushed it away. "Ah, well. Best report to the Colonel. He gets ... testy ... when he's kept waiting."

And despite all the time he had worked with the Colonel and got to know his moods, D'Angermouse briefly shivered.


August 1898

Sagauli Province, India

The tropical sun beat down on a bungalow. Tanya Mousekewitz, now wearing a light sundress and a broad hat, and carrying a parasol, was led toward it by a nervous-seeming shrew (although for some reason he insisted he was a muskrat), marvelling anew at the speed of the ship that had brought her here, now berthed on the banks of the Buri Gandhak river. The captain, although he was one of her team, had remained onboard, her guide having been rendered even more nervous by the thought of taking two people to the bungalow.

Which seemed long abandoned. "Are you sure this is the right place?" she asked as they reached the veranda.

"Oh, yes, it's the right place alright," replied the shrew/muskrat. "But I'll wait here. I can't go all the way in. I could never go all the way in." And he began to shudder. He seemed almost on the point of tears when he turned and fled back into the garden.

Tanya shrugged and slipped through a crack in the door. Entering the dusty and neglected main room, she found an elderly mustelid lying in the sunbeam streaming through the window.

"Are you..." she began, but he interrupted her, as his eyes attempted to focus on this intruder.

"They moved out, you know," he murmured, "All of them. Even the boy. I was never a pet, you know. Wild mongoose. Never a pet. But I liked them. Damn well saved their lives. Of course, they couldn't take me with them. Wild mongoose. But I liked them."

This confused and elderly creature was not what Tanya had expected. "Are you Rikki-tikki-tavi?" she repeated.

"Eh? Well, who else would I be? Saved that boy's life. That Kipling wallah wrote about it, you know. The family told him some, and he had a bit of animal-talk, heard the rest from Dahrzee and the Coppersmith. I expect that's where you heard of me, eh?"

"Well, yes," said Tanya.

"And that Cuchundra told you where to find me. So you want me to come and fight some more cobras? Or something worse? Is that it?"

Tanya shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know what we're fighting yet. But 'something worse' seems likely."

To her surprise the mongoose brightened and hopped up, his dim eyes suddenly sparkling with crimson. "In that case, my dear, we must run and find out."


August 1898

The Indian Ocean

The Vermin was capable of amazing speeds, but even so, it would take some time to return to England. Tanya took the time to introduce her two companions to each other.

"Although," she said, "It's kinda hard to introduce two people when you don't actually know the name of one of them."

"Aye, you do," replied the Vermin's captain. "It's the Sea Rat. Just the Sea Rat."

"Okay, fine. Rikki-tikki, this is the Sea Rat. Sea Rat, this is Rikki-tikki-tavi."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir," said the Sea Rat.

"Likewise, captain." Rikki-tikki-tavi looked around him. "Did you build this fine vessel? I've never heard of a ship made to our scale before."

"I didn't build it, sir," replied the Sea Rat, "I discovered it. I used to go travelling on human ships, the way all sea rats do, and I heard rumours that a hundred years ago there were a group of pirate rats who had their own ship, led by a Captain Blacktail. So I sought out that ship, and made it me own. Old Blacktail called it the Vile Vermin, but I dropped the Vile. Mr D'Angermouse and his associates assisted in giving it a modern engine, which I admit I don't rightly understand myself, but that's how it can travel so much faster than the wind, or even one of those steamships the humans use now."

"Fascinating," said Rikki-tikki, filled with curiosity, "And we're heading for England? That's where the big man and his family came from. I've never been there before."

"Yeah," said Tanya, frowning at her list, "Our next stop is up the Thames Valley. Someplace called Toad Hall."