Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 The rats who lived in the sewers on the way to St John's Wood looked on in awe as their king, his banished son and two cats slithered by at great speed... on the back of a giant snake. 'I imagine I'll have some explaining to do when I get back to Ratborough!' the king said, as he waved to his confused subjects. 'The papers will have a field day. Still, it

takes me back to the old days- I used these tunnels to escape after the Great Cheese Heist. Happy times! Ah, we're nearly here. Take the next left, then after ten or so metres there should be a ladder to the nearest drain. Sure enough, the king's directions were spot on, and they reached St John's Wood in no time. Under the cover of darkness, the rather odd-looking party of two cats, two rats and a snake made their way out of a drain and into the shrubbery that bordered a block of flats. Brenda was apparently being held on the second floor. 'OK, here's the plan,' said Toto. 'Silver and I will scale the wall. We'll scope the place to see if Brenda's there, then call down to you

guys. Er... she won't try to eat us, will she?' 'Good point,' said Brian. 'Maybe I should come with you.' 'You can climb?' asked Silver. 'Of course, I just don't have paws, or claws, or fingers, or thumbs... but other than that... He shrugged, or he would have done, but he didn't have any shoulders. Toto and Silver started their climb. Brian wrapped himself around a drainpipe and slithered up. Before too long they'd reached a window ledge on the second floor. 'This should be it,' said Brian, peering in. They could see they were in the right place. Silver described the scene to Toto. The front room was full of row upon row of tanks containing lizards, frogs and snakes,

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and at the very end was a big snake just like Brian, fast asleep. 'There she is. Isn't she a beauty?' sighed Brian. Silver gulped. 'Not sure I fancy going in there, sis,' he said. 'I think we might look a bit too much like breakfast.' 'We have no choice,' said Toto. She looked up and could just about make out that the top window was open. 'Look, I'll try to make it in through there, and I'll open the bottom window from the other side. Then, Brian, you go and wake Brenda up, tell her not to eat us, and we'll all get out of here. Sound like a plan?' Silver put two paws up, while Brian smiled a big, goofy, lovestruck grin, his

forked tongue hanging to one side. 'Weird,' said Toto, 'but I think that's a yes. Toto climbed stealthily to the window, scrambled through and dropped silently down into the room. She couldn't see much, but the sky outside was getting brighter, which gave her just enough light to make out some shapes. So far, all was going to plan, she just had to get the bottom window open and... A light went on in the hall, and she could hear footsteps. 'Someone's coming! Hide!' she whispered to Brian and Silver. They ducked out of the way, but Toto was stranded. Quickly, she ninja-chopped the padlock of the first tank she got to, and scrambled