Donner and Thalia: The Lair of the Rat God (Episode 1)

Chapter 12

12.

Donner sat in the mayor of Hasbeek's office with Thalia, Lenny, and Paul. Paul put a quick heal on Donner's arm, and it was good as new before the discussion started.

"So, if what you say is true, you stumbled onto a system of caves, underneath our town, that led to a cultist ritual underground. Where men were trying to summon the avatar of, what is it, God of Rats?"

"Yes," Donner nodded, "It was a cult that worshiped rats, but because rats are terrible, they only had three members, they were performing a ritual to bring an avatar of him into this world. We tried to stop them, but they succeeded in summoning said avatar, and we killed it," Donner shrugged.

"You," The Mayor shook his head, "You four, killed a Demi-God?"

Paul spoke up, "Is he a Demi-God? That term gets thrown around a lot, and people don't realize what makes a God special, so there are certain creatures of varying power from the higher planes that people have trouble segmenting into terms that already exist. And in modern academia, Demi-God has become a catch-all for things people can't explain. It was an Avatar of Rats, nothing more. We don't even know if we killed it, it may still exist in the immaterial plane somewhere, what Donner killed was an expression of a force of that plane, a force that would have overrun this town with, most likely, disease and death. But thanks to Donner's heroism and lack of concern for his, and our safety, we have saved this town from a very intrusive rat problem. There have been contracts involving killing rats," Paul turned to Donner, "And Donner is the one who stepped up to stop them."

The mayor put his hand to his face. He rubbed his temples, "You are lucky that our county clerk has already informed me that a pigeon will be sent to Sir Theodore, overseer of our fiefdom, to request that the fiefdom treasury will pay for the repair to the town from the damage you caused."

"Damage the Rat God caused," Lenny said, correcting him.

The Mayor shot a stern look to the young Wizard, "What," Lenny said, "We just killed him. We did nothing to make that cave collapse."

Donner spoke up in his defense, "Listen, I'm a licensed Knight. This was Knighting business, no need for concern," Donner smiled.

"Do you have your Knight Papers?" the Mayor asked.

Donner raised his eyebrows, "I am a recent Knight. I'm still waiting for a pigeon to bring me my papers, but I assure you I am acting within the full legal scope of Knighthood, damn the castles pigeons for not being fast enough, but I saw a problem that needed to be dealt with and I dealt with it. You're welcome," Donner said.

"I always knew that Elric character was trouble, that's whose hut you destroyed, hasn't been seen for weeks," The mayor said.

"Again, I destroyed nothing. The cave collapsed on its own," Donner said.

"I had a feeling he was into weird stuff. We've seen him feeding rats before. We told him to stop, but he kept going on about how rats are life, and other nonsense,we're glad to rid of him, to be honest," the Mayor said.

"Are we free to go? We have solved your rat problem, saved, maybe, the entire Island from being ravaged by the God of Rats, could we maybe get a reward?" Donner asked.

"Donner!" Thalia shot him a look. They were just about to get out of trouble, and then Donner had to open his damn adventurers' mouth.

"Unfortunately, when you four went into that cave, you did so on your own accord, you didn't take an official Knight contract to do that. There was no grantee of payment. So, take the good you did as its own reward. Of course, tales of Donner the, do you have a Knight name yet?"

"No," Donner said.

"Well, tails of Sir Donner and his slaying of the Rat God will surely be a fun story for the next few weeks, take solace in that, and go home,"

"So, that's it?" Lenny asked, "We can just go home?"

"Yes, you can," the Mayor said.

"Oh, thank the gods, I just want to go home and be done with all of this," Paul said with a sigh of relief.

"While we can't pay for unlicensed work, I'll be sure to send a pigeon telling of your "heroic" deeds to Woodsford Castle, now, if you would, kindly get the hell out of my office, and get the hell out of my town," The mayor said as he stood up with his hands on the desk looking on the four children.

"Sounds good, guys?" Donner looked at his party before he got off his chair and left with them.

The four went back to their homes in Hillshade. Lenny and Paul headed back to their houses, and outside Donner's house, he stood with Thalia. "So, that was a lot of nonsense, wasn't it?" he smiled.

"This is just how you're starting your Knight career. I can't wait to see where you go with it," Thalia said.

"Many adventures await," Donner smiled, "I want to thank you, for helping me, what you did was amazing, you're amazing Thalia," his heart continued to beat faster, smiling at his friend, his oldest friend.

"They're just parlor tricks, parlor tricks used to their best effect, but just tricks," she said as she shrugged her shoulders.

Once again, Donner fought back the urge to try and kiss her. They had just survived an insane adventure together. Part of him thought that if he wasn't going to kiss her now, when would he ever kiss her?

"Goodnight, Donner," Thalia said as she pounced and gave Donner a quick peck on the cheek.

Donner stood there stunned as Thalia smiled, and turned to make her way back to her house. Donner let out a deep sigh and smiled, saying to himself, "I'm a Knight," before heading back to his house, tired and ready for bed.

Next Time:
Donner's recent heroics have earned him an invitation to Woodsford Castle and a chance to meet his hero Theodore of the Axe Hilt, but Thalia receives a secret mission from her estranged Uncle that could ruin everything.

Donner and Thalia episode 2 "A Thief in the Night"

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