Sleep refused to come. Randy’s mind was a frantic mess, spinning with Capo’s words, Lucy’s fate, Karnel’s imprisonment, and the glittering Golden Teeth. He paced his bare room back and forth. The restless energy built inside him until he couldn't bear the confines of the room any longer. He had to move, had to do something. Quietly, he slipped out, venturing into the dark corridors of Capo's grim palace.
He crept along the hallways, melting into the deeper shadows whenever the footsteps of a patrolling Invincible echoed nearby. He peeked into numerous empty rooms — grand salons stripped bare, dusty, collapsed shelving, chambers that whispered of the hotel's faded grandeur. Finally, drawn by a low murmur of voices and a heavy, unpleasant smell, he located the cell block.
It was a large repurposed bathroom. The once-gleaming tiles were now stained, cracked, and covered in grime. The air was thick with the sour stench of fear and despair. Small, crude cages lined the walls, each holding miserable-looking prisoners — rodents huddled together, their eyes shining with terror in the gloom. As Randy stepped hesitantly inside, a chorus of soft groans and whimpers rose to meet him.
“The Inquisitor…” a terrified caged rat whispered nearby. “He’s back…”
Randy looked around. Inquisitor? Did they mean him? His eyes fell upon a small, sturdy table pushed against one wall, laden with an array of unsettling tools and instruments — sharp prods, clamps, pincers… He reached out instinctively, his paw hovering over a gleaming, prickly object…
“Please, Mr. Inquisitor!” a prisoner cried out from a nearby cage, startling Randy. “Have mercy! We’ve told you everything we know!”
Randy spun around, his gaze sweeping across the rows of desperate faces. Then, a gentle voice spoke from the shadows behind him.
“This is no Inquisitor. This is Randy.”
He turned again. It was Lucy, the Minister of Education, leaning wearily against the bars of her cage. Her face was etched with fatigue, but her eyes still held a spark of unwavering defiance. A collective sigh of relief rippled through the other prisoners.
“Why?” Randy asked, gesturing around the grim room. “Why are you all here?”
“This is the traitors’ room,” Lucy said bitterly. “In Capo’s eyes, anyone who dares to disagree with him is a traitor.”
“What’s going to happen to you all?” he asked, a cold dread coiling in his gut.
“We’re tortured,” a small mouse whimpered from a cage near the floor. “Until we confess.”
“Confess to what?” Randy asked, bewildered.
“We don’t know,” another mouse replied hopelessly. “So we confess to everything. Anything they want to hear. Sometimes we just make things up, just to make the Inquisitor stop.”
Randy shuddered, a wave of horror washing over him.
“And then what happens?”
“We don’t know,” the first mouse whispered, quivering in fear. “That’s the most terrible part.”
“All I did,” muttered a rat in the corner, “was pay my tribute with some chocolate I found in the garbage. I didn’t want to disobey, but it’s just so hard, keeping up with stealing — I mean, the extractions — from the humans.”
“Careful with your words,” another rat warned him. “If the Inquisitor heard you say ‘stealing’ instead of ‘extracting,’ you may never leave this place.”
Lucy addressed the other caged rodents. “Confess everything,” she advised them calmly. “Tell Capo whatever lies he wants to hear. And when you are eventually released, leave this city. Leave, if you possibly can. This place is lost.”
“And what about you, Lucy?” Randy asked, staring sadly at his new friend inside the cage.
Her expression hardened with chilling resignation. “I’ve been living a lie for too long. I will give myself to the Pit of Doom.” She met Randy’s gaze steadily. “What is the point of living if your mind isn’t free? I was born in this city; I will die here.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“The Pit of Doom?” Randy repeated, the name alone sending a shiver down his spine. “What’s that?”
“She’s crazy!” exclaimed the small mouse near the floor. “They tortured her for an hour! And she just kept shouting, ‘I confess that two plus two equals four!’ Over and over! I’ve never seen anyone so brave… or so stubborn. It would almost have been funny, if it were not so dreadfully sad.”
Randy moved closer to the cages, inspecting the locks, searching for any weakness, any way to free them. But they were sturdy, secured with heavy counterweights that looked like they’d require the combined strength of several strong rats to lift. It was hopeless.
“Maybe I could find a way?” Randy offered, knowing it sounded feeble. “Perhaps I could talk to Capo? Plead for you?”
Lucy gave him a sad look. “Do you want to end up in here with us? Don’t be silly. Just go. Leave the city while you still can. Forget about us.”
“I can’t,” Randy said miserably. “If I leave, he’ll execute Karnel.”
“Randy?!” a familiar voice called out weakly from the far corner of the foul-smelling room.
Randy hurried over. Karnel was huddled in a small, damp cubicle right next to a stained and reeking toilet. He looked gaunt, his life drained out of him, but otherwise, he appeared physically unharmed.
“Karnel! Are you okay?” Randy asked anxiously. “Did they… torture you?”
Karnel managed a grim smile. “No. Strangely enough, I have been completely ignored. Isolated. Perhaps that is the torture,” he added dryly. “Listen to Lucy. Get out of here while you can. There’s nothing good for you in this place.”
“No! I’ll buy your freedom with candy.”
Karnel sighed. “If you insist, Randy. But tread very, very carefully with Capo. Agree with everything he says, even if it sounds horrible and outlandish. One wrong move, one misplaced word, and you’ll be sharing this delightful accommodation with the rest of us — or worse, the Pit of Doom. Now scram! Get out of here! If anyone finds you talking to me, Capo will see it as proof of conspiracy.”
“Wait! I need to talk to you first,” Randy pleaded. “I’m so confused. Capo acts so nice towards me, so friendly. But seeing all this… seeing you here… I am still wrapping my head around it.”
Karnel sat up straighter in his cell, his sharp eyes focusing on Randy. “What did he tell you?”
“He said he needed someone he could trust. He said he could see me as his successor one day. If I’m completely loyal to him.”
Karnel gave a short, humourless laugh. “Well, that’s certainly an enticing offer, Randy. But I’m not entirely sure you’d have the stomach for what being ‘loyal’ to Capo truly entails in the long run.”
“Why not? What if I did? Maybe I could just bear it? Play along for a while? And then, when I finally seize power, I could make things right! Make the city fair for everyone?”
“That wouldn’t happen, Randy,” Karnel said gravely, shaking his head. “Power changes rodents. If you went down that path, trying to beat him at his own game you’d end up becoming just like him.”
“Why does he think you’re such a traitor, Karnel?”
Karnel leaned against the bars. “I used to serve Randal before Capo came. But Randal was evil, Randy. Truly evil. He saw mice as nothing, inferior beings born only to serve him.” Karnel shuddered. “I don’t even want to speak of the things he made me do. How we treated those poor mice… I still have nightmares about it.”
He paused, collecting himself before continuing. “Then I heard the whispers. The prophecy, popular among the mice and even some rats who hated Randal: a prophecy about a mouse with Golden Teeth who would come and liberate the city. When Capo showed up one day flashing those gold teeth, the dissenters rallied around him instantly, and I defected with them. I betrayed Randal.
“I am a traitor, Randy. I betrayed Randal… but I thought I was doing the right thing. Then Capo turned out to be just as bad. Or maybe worse. Randal was cruel to mice, yes, but Capo… Capo is cruel to everyone. This city has never known such hunger, such misery, as it has under his Golden Rule.
“So, yes, I betrayed Capo too. I tried to get the Invincibles to turn against him. But they wouldn’t listen. They believed in the Golden Rule, in the prophecy, more than they believed their own eyes, and my own brother turned me in and took my place.”
Randy stood silent, his mind reeling from the tangled tale of betrayal and corrupted ideals.
“I have one last question,” Randy said, his curiosity burning. “Capo’s gold teeth… are they real?”
Karnel looked surprised. “That’s a strange question, Randy. Well, of course they must be real. I’ve never met or even heard of a rodent with fake teeth before.”
“I have. My uncle Will. His teeth were fake.”
“Huh,” Karnel considered this. “Well… I suppose if Capo’s teeth were fake that would change everything. His entire claim to power rests on those teeth, on the prophecy. But fake? I doubt it. Someone would have noticed by now. My brother Karniga would surely know.”
“I think they’re fake,” Randy stated, but doubt still lingered in his mind.
“Perhaps,” Karnel conceded. “But thinking it means nothing unless you can prove it. And proving it… well, that would be extremely dangerous. Keep your head down, Randy. Stick to the plan. And get back to your quarters now, before you get caught!”
Randy extended his arm through the bars, grasping Karnel’s briefly. “Hang in there, Karnel. I’ll do my best to get you out.”
Then Randy turned and rushed from the cell block, his mind racing. He took several wrong turns in the confusing maze of corridors before finally finding his way back to his own bleak room. He collapsed onto the bed, thoughts tumbling over each other until sheer exhaustion dragged him into sleep.