From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [BDAY] [MG] I get ta be the good guy!  No, I do!
Date: 25 May 93 21:42:08 GMT

[ADMIN]  Large parts due to Dreamer.

0-0-0

	Two children were sitting on a wall looking out over the bay.
It was a warm evening and the wind off the bay was comfortable rather
than chilling.

	"I is still hungry.  You wants I can bring ya some eats, maybe
some water?"  Kev stood as Little Rat shrugged noncommitally, and ran
down the wall to where the knotted-sheet ladder waited.  He came back a
few minutes later, and dropped a waterskin and a couple pieces of fruit
by her side, then slumped bonelessly down to watch the sunset.  After a
while the fireworks started exploding.  Little Rat fiddled with a
fraying end of a rag pretending to be her clothing.  She had decided to
tell Kev about the Gutt Man to show him how tough you have to be to
live in the Low City by yourself.

	"Now hear dis Kev.  I's only gonna tell it once, so you better
listen good." She started without turning her eyes from the fiery
flowers in the sky.

	"I is listenin'."

	"Well, ya see, dere is dis guy what we kids call da Gutt Man.
We call him dat 'cause he takes dumb kids like you an' takes dere gutts
out.  Den he puts dem all over da place and dances and laughs like a
mumbly old beggar.  'Cept he got dis knife see.  He got dis knife dat
could cut stones is half.  If you don't get smart like me, he is gonna
catch you and put your insides on da outside."  While saying this, she
tried to fight down her rising fear.  It wouldn't be good to have a fit
in front of the kid.

	"I ain't afraid." Kev said this in something resembling a growl.

	Little Rat figured that his throat was sore, so she continued.
"Well, dat's too bad 'cause when you is scared, ya run.  Dat's what I
did, no shame neither.  If he catches ya, he don't kill ya fast with no
sticker, he takes da knife and he cuts ya real slow 'cause he's real
sick in da nog.  Kev, dis don't mean dat I like you or nuffin', but I
seen what he does ta us kids an' I don't wanna see it happen no more.
'Sides, dat guy 'Raelf would throw me back to da street if I let dat
happen."  Little Rat shuddered as pictures of the Gutt Man's horrors
flashed in her mind.

	"Ain't no one try ta stop him?"

	"Nope, he got da Dark Man on his side dat make him real strong
an' fast."  She shivered remembering the hand grabbing her anlke.

	"Well, I say we get him," Kev said seriously.

	"WHAT?  Are ya outta your nog?  You is a looney one Kev.  Maybe
we otta lock you up with stupid ideas like dat."  Little Rat tore her
eyes away from the pyrotechnic display to look at Kev.  Her eyes
widened in shock as she saw his face.  It was set in a look of fierce
determination making the boy seem much older than his six years.

	"Kev, I think I otta get 'Elya.  I think dat you is gettin' da
sickness or sumthin'.  You is scaring me with dat look."

	Kev shook his head, startled.  "Nah, you's right, he would gutt
a kid what doesn't know how ta fight or nuffin, but somebody gots ta
get him.  Din't you fight wif' him though?  You still gots all yer
gutts on da inside, right?  You's skinny enuf, looks kinda like he
mighta got ya."

	Little Rat narrowed her eyes at him.  He was giggling, and so
she had to punch him on the shoulder, but he fell over laughing and she
decided that he was just bein' silly.  She shook her head, sure that
he'd be dead before the cold time came again, if he went back onta the
street.

	Fireworks continued exploding, loud and bright and just a bit
TOO pretty.

000----000

	Little Rat was bored.  Kev had been sulking in his room all
morning.  He was fun last night, making up all sorts of dumb stories.

	She wandered out into the big room that looked out on the
ocean.  The sun was shining in, and it made her feel sleepy, and she
didn't want to go back to sleep.  Something bright was moving around on
the surface of the waves, some kind of a funny looking boat, the guy
was standing on it and flipping a sail back and forth, hopping up and
down on the waves.  Stupid.  A big lizard-fish was sure to see him and
fly down and eat him.  She still wasn't sure about that huge open area,
it didn't look real.

	There was a sound from outside, so she ran across the room and
out to the garden.  The lady wizard was there, in the garden, digging a
hole.  She saw Little Rat and waved, so Little Rat went over to where
she was digging.

	"Good morning, did you have fun down at the celebration?"

	"Uhm, yesm.  Howdja know we was there?"  Little Rat began
twisting her rags again.  She was embarassed, not because she had done
something wrong, but because she got caught.

	"Oh, magic," the lady wizard said teasingly.  "Really, I was
down at the market and I saw you there."

        "You's not mad at us?"

        "Just remember to be careful, watch out for bad people.  Kev
saw that Ramesh slaver before you did.  You werent' paying attention."

        "Oh.  But I dunno what a Ramish slaver is."

	"They steal children, and women and sometimes men, and they
take them far away to the land they come from and they make them work
until they die, and if they won't work, they hit them with whips or
have their bad magicians cast spells on them so they have to work."

        "Work's not bad."  She said this with conviction.

        "Yes, but they don't trade for it, they just take it."

        "Dat is bad.  OK, what's dey look like, so's I can tell?"

        "I'll show you in a little bit.  First you need to pay us for
staying here, so help me dig this hole out and we'll plant this new
tree here."

        "It's a pretty tree.  Howcome it gots red leafs?"  Little Rat
picked up a shovel, changed her grip like the lady wizard showed her,
and began digging.

        "Just the way it is.  Most plants have more green so that you
can't see the red underneath.  The green is how the plant gets its
food, it makes the dirt and the sunlight into more plant, and when the
sunlight goes away in the winter the green goes away and the red or
yellow shows."

        "So when da cold time comes an' da leafs gets all yellow it's
cause of no green?"

        "Exactly.  You're very bright, Little Rat."

        "Hafta be.  Stupid peoples don't last.  Charlie gets 'em, or da
worms or da bad water an' dey dies an' da crocs eats' em."

        "Well, you've made the hole big enough.  See the sack that the
tree is in?  The hole has to be twice as big around as the sack, and
about twice as deep.  All the roots are in the sack.  Did you ever grow
plants before?"

        "Nuh hun.  What's roots for?"  Little Rat was sure she knew,
but she wanted to know what the wizard lady would say.

        "Suppose you tell me?"

        "But I's just a kid, I dunno dat kinda stuff," Little Rat
protested, then she saw that 'Elya was kinda laughing, but not laughing
too.  She looked like she might be gonna cry.  Little Rat looked
into her grey eyes, and blinked.  There was a woman, short and kind
of skinny, sad-eyes, slack-faced, starin' with the look of one of
the 'stix girls from the cuddle cribs that was too close ta the Shun.
The other eye, there was da same woman, but dis time she looked like
one a' dem town guards, tough an' had shiny armor on an' everything.

        "Oh dear.  I think it might be about to rain," the wizard
lady said, looking away as she patted the dirt in around the plant.

        Little Rat was kind of scared for a moment, seeing things in
peoples' eyes like that, maybe she was off her nog, but then she
remembered this was a wizard lady, an' so it was probly just some
wizard thing.

        "Little Rat, would you please carry the bucket with the
garden supplies over to the garden shed and put them inside," 'Elya
asked her, as she poured water around the newly planted tree.  Little
Rat complied, then it did start raining a little, so she went into
the doorway to wait for it to stop.  It started raining even harder.
'Elya walked up, dripping wet, and chuckling to herself.

        "Howcome you gots wet?"  Little Rat asked.  "Can't wizards
keep da rain off dem?"

        "Sometimes, but it isn't always good to mess with the way
things are supposed to be.  Besides, now my hands are all clean."

        Little Rat looked at herself, and ran out into the rain
for a minute to get the mud off her rags.  When she came back, the
wizard lady had a big fluffy hot dry cloth, and she dried her off,
which surprised Little Rat a lot.

        "You should be careful, little one.  You might get too
cold if you let yourself get soaked, and then you could catch
the coughing sickness."

        "But I was gonna go inta my room an' stay until my stuff
got all dry,"  Little Rat replied.  She knew about not getting
too cold, Trawm had let her huddle in his kitchen sometimes, or
she'd got in one of the old grain boxes by the stables.

        "Well, now that you've helped me with my plants, I think
I should pay you back.  What would you like for breakfast?  You
can have anything you want."

        "Sammidges,"  Little Rat said emphatically.  "Like dem
ones from da party.  Dey was real good."

        'Elya laughed.  "You got it, kid."  She led her charge
into the dining room: a loaf of fresh bread was set on a table,
and some sliced meats and some big crispy leaves and a little
bowl with some white and yellow and brown stuff in it.

        "Now, Rat, this is how you make a sammidge.  Do you
want me to call you Little Rat?  It seems like an unusual name
for a girl as pretty as you."

        "Ahh, I ain't pretty,"  Little Rat replied, blushing,
"Lissa's pretty, I's just ordinary.  Are you gonna take my
name away?  Mister Lancos said ya might wanna do dat."

        "Your name is yours to keep or change, Little Rat.  But
I'm pretty sure your mother didn't call you her Little Rat.  I bet
she had a different name for you.  Do you want me to find out
what it was?"  'Elya continued showing Little Rat how to cut up
the bread and meat and spread the seasonings onto her sammidge.
Little Rat was careful to check for white worms, but she was
pretty sure by now that these wizards were like the rich folks
that Kev told her about, they wouldn't have white worms.

        "I ain't got no remembers a my mother.  She got da
sickness when I were real young and died."  She paused. "I
wudda died, but Iramus found me first.  He were like a mother
ta me, 'cept he were a boy.  He always called me Little Rat,
so dat's my name..." She paused again and then tilted her head
and looked up at ar'Elya with a half smile on her face.  "Can
you really learn dat?  About my name I mean?"

        "Yep."

        "Well, dat sure would be neat.  I ain't never thunk 'bout
my name much.  I guess Little Rat is a dumb name for a little kid.
I dunno.  It would be a big thing, 'Elya, I gots ta think 'bout
it, dere's not a lotta stuff I could do for ya dat was good enuf
ta pay ya for it."  Little Rat carefully duplicated the sammidge,
until there were four of them that she set on the plate together.
'Elya poured a glass of apple juice for each of them, and they
sat down at the table.

        "All right.  If you figure out a good trade, tell me and
I'll help you find out the name."  'Elya took a bite of one of the
sammidges, tasting it carefully and swallowing.  "Not bad, not bad
at all.  You make a pretty good sammidge, kid.  Tell you what,
when you finish your breakfast, how about I show you some games?"

        "I's too old for games."

	"Oh, but I'm not, and I need a playmate, will you help me?
It's boring to have to play all alone."  She grinned and Little Rat
stared at her for a moment then started giggling.  She finished her
sammidge and helped clear away the dishes, then followed 'Elya to one
of the rooms that she had been warned not to enter.  The door opened on
a big room with racks and racks of clothes and things, with a painted
folding screen and a long tall mirror at the far end.

        "Wow, you's rich, so many clothes an' stuff..."  Little Rat
muttered, awed at the expanse.

        "Oh, no, dear one.  These are just magical lets-pretends.
See, if we take them outside,"  and the wizard lady took one of
the sillier hats out into the hall, where it dissolved into smoke.

        "Why di't go all smokey?"

        "It wasn't real, the magic in the game room made it.  It's
like when you dream - it seems real until you wake up."

        "Oh. Dat's neet."  Little Rat went cautiously into the room.
When nothing strange happened, she followed 'Elya to the mirrors.

        "Okay, so this is going to be a really easy game.  We're
going to play dress-up.  First I'll put something on, and I come out
and you try to guess who I am.  Then you dress up and I try to guess
who you are."  Little Rat nodded gravely and 'Elya laughed.  She went
into the racks and came away with a handful of dresses.  Then, after
going behind the screen, clothes began to fly into the air.

        When she came out, she was wearing a shiny silver helmet
and bright red hair in a long braid down her back, and she had a
heavy shiny shirt made out of little rings of metal.

        "I know.  You is a guard."  A little white cat with black
ears came out from behind one of the clothes racks and sniffed
curiously at Little Rat's foot, then rubbed against her leg.

        "Right.  Your turn."  'Elya picked up the cat and shooed
it towards the door.

        Little Rat thought for a second, then gathered some stuffs
and went behind the screen.  She came out a moment later, wearing
a white wig and black leather jacket covered with rubber spiders,
and holding a wavy-bladed wooden knife.

        "Well.  It looks to me like you're a Drow priest.  The one
from the story you were telling about when you helped Alfvaen to
rescue Ellestrae."

	"Yup."  Little Rat made realistic faces into the mirror.  'Elya
gathered some more clothing, and went behind the screen.  When she came
out, she was wearing a really ugly old fashioned dress that hid all her
body, and she had a big white scarf that she wore over her head like
the old lady farmers, and a cloth hood that covered all but her face.
She looked older than usual.

        "Dis is hard," Little Rat said, then inspiration hit. "I gots
it.  You is a priest of Issek, like da ol' droopy-drawers what comes
around an' gives away da fish soup in da cold time."

	"Pretty good, child," 'Elya said in an old-lady voice, "But I'm
not a priest of Issek.  I'm a servant of the unnamed gods."

        "What's da dif?" Little Rat said, digging in a box for a
feather boa and some shiny cloth.

	"Oh, the gods who can be named are powerful, but they all draw
their people into their stories.  The ones who have no stories and who
aren't named, they're the ones who help people without making them into
something they shouldn't be."

        "Huh?"  Little Rat stepped out from behind the screen, and
the dour expression on 'Elya's face broke up in a wrinkled smile.
Little Rat was wearing a poison-green sparkling cloth wrapped around
her body, with a long feather boa and in her hand, a bubble pipe.

        She vamped in her best nine-year-old style.  'Elya hid her
laughter behind her wide cloth sleeves and said in a choked voice,

        "Lady Ale.  From the place where you went with Kev yesterday."

        "OK, it's yer turn now."  Little Rat continued gesturing and
posing with the bubble pipe, trying to look mysterious and alluring.

        'Elya came out from behind the screen, wearing a long red silk
dress covered in embroidered dragons.  She had a long blond wig too.
Little Rat blew a bubble out of the pipe, and pronounced judgement.

        "You is a princess.  But you does magical stuffs too."

        "You're very perceptive today," 'Elya smiled.  "That's exactly
right.  Most people don't notice the princess part when I dress up
like this.  I have a Lady Ale costume, too."

        "She's neet," Little Rat replied.  "She gots lots of folks
what works for her and dat kinda stuffs."

        "She thinks that's a secret, too."  'Elya smiled, as Little
Rat carefully put the pipe and the boa back in the box where she'd
found them.  "What's your next one?"

        "You gots ta guess."  Little Rat came out from the screen
wearing very brightly colored shorts, and a "Megadeth" tee shirt,
and sunglasses, and she had a stick that she used to mime someone
practicing a staff form.  She was making a ferocious growling
noise, and 'Elya smiled.

        "That looks like 'Raelf when he's practicing."

        "Nope.  It's Kev."  She hit an imaginary bully with the stick.

        "What?!" 'Elya aid, shock mirrored in her eyes.

        "Yeah, dat was all he wanted ta do dis mornin'."

        "Did he try to make you do it too?"

        "Yeah, he sez it was fightin' but I think he's a looney."
She executed a pretty good parry-riposte and 'Elya smiled wryly.

        "Little Rat, there's something very important you should do
for me.  If you ever see Kev acting that way, you just whisper my
name and I'll come help."

        "I tho't he was sick in da nog."  Little Rat pursed her lips
in a very serious, worried expression.

        "He might be, so you have to be careful."

        "Okay."  Little Rat yawned and stretched.  "I wanna go in
my room now.  Is we done playin' yet?"

        "For now.  Thank you for playing with me.  If you want you
can keep one of the costumes.  I'll make it last outside of the room."

        "Ok.  Can I have da stuffs wit' da pipe?"

        "Sure."

        When Little Rat woke up from her nap it was because she was
thirsty and had to go.  She came back to her room and Kev was there,
sitting on her mat on the floor.  He had a smile that made Little Rat
feel shaky, it reminded her of the smile that creepy drow had when
he was waiting to stick Princess Else Tree.  She wanted to back out
of the room but he stopped smiling creepy and got up.

        "Hey, ya wanna practice fightin' some more?" he asked.

        "Nuh uh.  You is not s'posed to be in my room wit'out askin."

        "Sorry.  Can I be in your room?"

        "I guess so.  If ya doesn't try ta make me fight."

        "Ok.  I gots a secret, Little Rat.  I did one."

        "What? Ya did one what?"

        "I got one a dem slavers.  I dropped a rock on his nog."

        "You is lyin' ta me.  You din't."

        "Did too.  See, I gots his ring."  He pulled a big flashy
ring out of a pocket.  It had blood in it.  "He was gonna take dis
girl ta his boat, an' I got real close an I stuck him in his jools
wit' my stick, an' he fell down an' da girl gots away, an' he got
after me an' he chases me ta down by da docks an I waits for him
ta chase me down in da place by where da sea wall goes, an' he comes
up unnerneefs of da wall, an I was uptop wit' a big ol' rock, an
he shows his greasy beard an I drops da rock, his nog makes dis big
splut noise an' all dis cool red gunk comes out, an' he flops like
a seagull when ya cuts off it's birdy nog, an' den I goes down an'
gets dis ring, I wuz gonna give it ta da girl what he was chasin'
but she was gone."  Kev polished the blood off against his shirt.

        Little Rat listened, fascinated but uneasy.  Kev wasn't
a hard case like the kids down in Low Town, and the cold way he
had lured the man to his death made a cold lump settle in her gutts.

        "Kev, dis isn't right, is it?"  She sat down next to him.

        "Hey, he hasta get paid back, right?"

        "But you's a kid.  'Sides' dere was more of 'em, right?
Ya kilt da one, but dere was others."  She grabbed the stuffed
dragon toy that had been sleeping in her room during the day, and
hugged it while she talked.

        "Yah, so we gots ta go figger out how ta off da others.
All da folks what does bad stuff, all da folks what does all da
t'ings what hurts kids an' den we gots ta punish da folks what
does mean t'ings ..."

        "Kev, is you jus' gonna kill folks what ya never met?  An' den
when ya's kilt off all da folks what hurts kids what is ya gonna do
den?  Kill more folks?"  She felt hot wetness on her cheeks, and rubbed
her face on the dragon toy.

	"Ya gots ta stop it, Kev.  We ain't da guards, we can't jus' go
killin' da bad folks, even if we knowed who all da bad folks was.  Cause
sometimes da folks does bad stuff but dey isn't bad, like when da guy
what juggles on da corner by da Spittin' Cobra gets a lots a janglies,
he gifs us kids jobs an' den he feeds us.  'Cept if he got troubles wit'
his cuddly girl he gets all nasty an' runs us offa da corner."

	She rubbed her eyes on the toy dragon's tail again.  "Ya gots
ta use da nog, Kev, ya can't jus' go killin' folks cause sometimes dey
isn't bad, or sometimes it is jus' a axident.  You is jus' a kid, you
doesn't know if someone's a bad guy or if dey's a good guy but dey
isn't doin' da good stuff.  Like when I hadda steal stuff 'cause I was
starvin'.  Stealin' ain't right, but I hadda do it or I was gonna die a
da sickness or sumthin'.  Is you gonna kill me den too?  Waddabout you,
is you gonna kill you 'cause you does bad stuff sometimes, too?"

        "Oh."  Kev was sitting with a shocked look on his face,
then looked at the ring in his hand.  He blinked and tears started
to run down his face.

        "'Elya, help," Little Rat whispered into the dragon toy.

	"Hello, Little Rat," the droll voice from the doorway surprised
them both, and the girl looked up.  The wizard lady looked very pretty,
with a shiny silver dress with arms that had pleats and folds that
looked like wings.  "Hello, Kev.  You've been hard to find today."

	"I think I did somethin' bad," Kev whispered.  "I kilt one of
dem Ramish slave guys but Little Rat sez dat I coulda been wrong an' he
was a good guy."

        "Was the person you killed really a slaver?"

	"'Course he was, dis is da ring he had," Kev showed the bright
ruby-and-gold object to the wizard lady.  "See, it gots da snake cut in
da back, an' he had da iron shackles in da boat."

	"But Little Rat is right, you can't just go killing people just
because they're doing something that makes you mad.  There are good
people and bad people, but you aren't old enough yet to tell the
difference."  She looked him in the eye.  "You tell ME why you killed
him."

        "'Cause he was bad an' 'cause he wasn't ever gonna stop."

        "No hope that he might change?"

        "Why would he do dat?  Folks don't change."

        "They grow up, don't they?"

	"Yeah, but if dey does a bad thing dey needs ta get paid back
for it."  Kev set his mouth in a sullen pout.  "But I is all confuzed
now.  I got mad at da slaver an' I jus' wanted ta make him hurt like da
folks what he'd made hurt."

	"Come here, Kev."  She held her arms open, and when he went
over to her and she gave him a hug, it looked like a big bird with its
wings around him.  Little Rat sniffled a little, and then blinked - the
shiny silver dress had made a flash like looking at the sun, and Little
Rat felt like she had been carrying a big heavy rock in her chest that
just went away.

	"Now tell me again, why would you ever want to kill someone?"
the wizard lady said, and Kev just shook his head.  "Dat's dumb.  Why
would I want ta kill someone?  Dey is folks too, right?  An' Little Rat
says dat some of dem is bad 'cause dey is hungry or 'cause dey is sad
an' dat we doesn't know."

	"Good answer."  She gave Little Rat's dragon toy a pat on the
head and went out into the hall.  Little Rat went to the door and
looked after her, but she was gone.