15 – Rat Hunting

Catching rats wasn’t a simple task.

Even with my unfair advantages in being able to tell their exact locations, that didn’t help me if the creatures were underneath the floor.

I might be able to punch a hole in wooden planks, but I really would rather avoid having to do it.

Firstly, even if I was strong enough, it would still hurt like hell. My regeneration could probably fix the damage, but that didn’t make me immune to pain.

Second, and overall more important, it would be loud, not to mention the very obvious hole it’d leave behind. Not compatible with my dire need for secrecy.

There was also the relatively minor issue of the rat I targeted probably not surviving the resultant explosion of wood shrapnel. Or running away if there was distance between it and the new hole.

In other words, I had to lure the creatures out into the open.

Easier said than done as well, since my heart detection didn’t tell me the location of the entrances or exits to the tunnels the rats were hiding in. Not directly anyway. I would have to observe their movements over a longer period. Then I could try to bait one of those entrances and hopefully catch a rat or two.

So, I sat motionless in my room, listening to dozens of little hearts beat as their owners went about their day… uh, night. They did appear to be nocturnal, moving around significantly more now that the sun had set than during the day.

Made sense in a way, since their survival depended on not being discovered by humans. Humans who, by my own experience, had terrible night vision on average. Not to mention usually sleeping during nighttime.

There were several spots where multiple rats converged and often stayed for a long time. Due to these spots’ locations under ground level, I assumed them to be dens or nests or whatever a rat’s home was called.

Some rats ventured to places above ground level. None of the places they did so were inside the manor. They were instead out in the gardens surrounding the building.

If any of the animals walked around inside the actual manor, I couldn’t tell. The main issue stopping me was a lack of any topographical information provided by my heart detection. I knew with high accuracy where each rat was, but I couldn’t tell where any of the actual walls or floors were.

So any rat inside the manor might as well be inside a wall as running down a corridor. I had no way of knowing that without going in person to check.

For now, I was going to try tracking outside in the garden.

But first, I’d need to stop looking like a ghost that would stand out even in the dark.

To that end, I put on long-sleeved dark clothes and a hooded cloak. Kalin apparently didn’t own a simple black cloak, so the one I was wearing was a very dark red.

Actually, now that I considered it some more, most of Kalin’s clothes were probably still in his usual living quarters on the outlying tower’s second floor. The clothes in this room might be more intended as a backup in case he decided to stay in the manor proper instead.

Not that that ever happened. Very rare cases like demonic rituals happening in the study above the tower bedroom didn’t count.

Anyway, wearing my cloak that looked just a bit too much like blood not to amuse me, I opened the window.

It was properly dark outside, with the sun set and neither Noctin nor Regis visible in the sky. Clouds covered most of the stars, reducing the light level even more. I was fairly certain I’d be stumbling around blindly in the brush without my new night vision. No amount of low-light adaptation of human eyes could see with zero light.

I could see just fine though. It was even comfortable on the eyes, compared to all the stinging light sources others needed not to trip over their own feet. Even the magical lamp, turned to the lowest acceptable level, was still not pleasant.

As I slipped outside, I marveled at how agile I felt. The window was large, so I fit through it without issue, but it was still raised off the floor inside and a little higher outside. I managed to climb onto the windowsill and drop to the ground with barely a sound, not to mention any effort.

The next order of business was avoiding notice. Even if it meant I didn’t succeed at my rat-catching, I couldn’t afford to be spotted by any of the patrols.

Most guards didn’t walk the garden, but there were still some. Before leaving my room I’d counted four pairs moving around out here. A quick check confirmed the number to still be accurate. None of the groups were nearby, which was why I picked right now to leave.

I left the window open only a slit, so as to avoid anyone wandering by and seeing the empty room beyond. It was dark both in- and outside, but the guards had lanterns.

With my camouflage complete, I held my bundle of food and headed deeper into the garden. My goal was one of the rats moving around above ground level.

The gardens of Kalin’s manor weren’t all that well-kept. I wasn’t sure if he had a gardener on staff, not that he’d ever concerned himself with it. Basically, the parts further away from the actual building were closer to a small forest, complete with lots of tangled underbrush.

Directly hugging the manor was a strip of various flowering bushes. Since it was nearing fall, the blooms were wilted, most of them already fallen off.

Despite the abundant vegetation, I didn’t have too many issues avoiding loud rustling.

Next was a gravel path that ringed the entire manor, which was also where the guard patrols would pass by.

Beyond lay the overgrown greenery of the ‘garden’ proper. I knew it was ringed by a wall further out somewhere, but neither Kalin nor I were aware of the exact dimensions.

Since my room was on the eastern back of the manor, the guard barracks and servant housing in the west weren’t in view. Neither was the tower to the north.

Another quick check after passing the path revealed one of the patrols nearing the building’s corner. I hurried on into the underbrush. Once I was a few meters in, I crouched down and stopped moving, covering any exposed bits of skin with my cloak. Then, I listened and waited.

Just as I’d already sensed, a patrol rounded the corner, following the path. As they neared, I heard the crunching of gravel underfoot and noticed a barely detectable brightening of the surrounding plants due to their lanterns, even as far in as I was.

When the two men had passed my position, I allowed myself a quick peek between the various branches and leaves.

The guards were basically strolling along their route, halberds held loosely over their shoulders. Each had a lantern tied to their belt that lit up their surroundings… and ruined any semblance of night vision they might have had.

I winced at the light and the security implications both. It turned out I’d been way too careful. These two men would barely be able to see anything but vague shapes past the few meters properly illuminated by the lanterns. I could’ve laid down directly in the first set of bushes and they’d have walked right past me.

Sure, it might be a little different if my incredibly pale skin wasn’t covered up, but still. The security standards in this place were atrocious.

When I was beyond the patrol’s earshot, I stood up and kept moving.

Another quick check showed the next patrol still a ways off from rounding the corner. Also, I noticed Mia’s heartbeat had finally calmed down to a regular, slow rhythm. It seemed the girl had finally fallen asleep. I could only hope it was restful.

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Passing through densely packed bushes, weeds and small trees was more annoying than the earlier flower hedge. Almost every second step, something was grabbing at my cloak or I’d have to bend a branch out of the way. It still wasn’t hard, just less quiet than I’d have liked. Still, I was closing in on my quarry.

The rat I was tracking moved around ahead of me, only a few meters from my position now. As I got closer, I got an idea why it stayed in the area. My nose picked up faint sweet, fruity notes. They were mixed with a mild fermenting odor.

After convincing another human-sized tree that it wouldn’t win in a contest of strength, I saw the cause of the smells.

A small almost-clearing held a large tree. The dense canopy overhead shaded the area enough to inhibit most large plans from growing near it. Numerous fruit hung from its branches. They looked quite similar to apples at a glance.

More interesting to the rat were the large number of overripe, fallen fruit scattered about.

In fact, I could see glimpses of my prey flitting about in the tall grass. It was quite large compared to what I thought when hearing the word ‘rat’.

Even though the animal’s nose was obviously overwhelmed by the smell of food, its ears worked just fine. As I stepped a little closer, the little creature paused at the rustling of leaves.

There was some wind blowing, so the sound by itself wasn’t that unusual. I’d also counted on that fact to cover for me. Unfortunately for me, the rat’s senses or intuition were stronger than I’d expected.

It stood up on its hind legs to get a better view. As soon as its eyes landed on me, even half-obscured by foliage as I was, the rat bolted.