Return to Rat City (Rat City #2)

By Tyffani Clark Kemp

The Gods were just a myth until she landed on top of them...
For the first time since Dalia can remember, she’d found a home, and in a matter of seconds it was taken away from her. All because of who she was born to be.
Dalia has been living in exile ever since the truth came out six months ago; she is a part of the government that is hunting Rat City. The same government that wants her dead. The tree-dwelling people of the Living Forest are no less suspicious of her than Rat City was, and they have no qualms about showing it.
After a hunting accident leaves a young man on the brink of death, Dalia has no choice but to seek out the one man who can save him.
William Burke, Patriarch of Rat City.
He may kill Dalia on the spot. Or maybe he’s missed her too...but she’s not counting on it.
When the tree-dwellers betray Dalia to the same government she’s been running from her entire life, they put Burke and his people in danger as well. There’s a whole desert between them and Rat City, and a whole world of ways to die before they get there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tyffani Clark Kemp
• Release date: May 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463711804

Tyffani Clark Kemp

Tyffani Clark Kemp might be the quietest person in the room, but that just means she’s probably the biggest freak too. She is a multi-genre author with a gift for the written word and a desire to help all Indies reach their full potential. In 2012, she and her best friend Kimberly Fudge started SideStreet Cookie Publishing for authors who want to remain independent, but don’t have the time or the knowledge to do it all themselves. From the age of eleven she dedicated her life to writing and making sure she was good at her craft. Now, she passes that knowledge on to others. Her friends would describe her as determined and giving. She may be quite, but she always has a story to tell.

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Return to Rat City

Book 2

Tyffani Clark Kemp

~~~

Smashwords Edition

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.  This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.  If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.  If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy.  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Published by

SideStreet Cookie Publishing, LLC

www.sidestreetcookiepublishing.com

Copyright © 2018 Tyffani Clark Kemp

All rights reserved.

Cover design by SideStreet Cookie Designs

DEDICATION

For Sabrina.

This book was a mess and you helped me fix it. Thank you fro believing so completely in this story.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

About the Author

Other Books by Tyffani Clark Kemp

Other Books from SideStreet Cookie Publishing

Chapter One

Something heavy moved through the forest. Thirty feet away and the bushes shook violently. Twenty feet away and a copse of skinny saplings rocked as they were knocked to the side, barely keeping their roots in the ground. Ten feet away, and the bloody tusks broke through the underbrush. Someone was likely dead if the screams from earlier were any indication. I let loose the arrow in my bow, heard the cry of pain from the rampaging creature, and listened as it thrashed around for at least twenty minutes before it finally stopped.

I didn’t move. I waited another minute, then two, just in case the animal was faking. When I didn’t hear anything, I climbed down from my tree-side perch. The jungle closed around me, silent but alive. I notched another arrow, and as quietly as I knew how, I moved toward the place where I’d last heard the animal. The boar lay on its side, breath heaving, arrow sticking up into the air, blood leaking down its belly and onto the leaf-covered forest floor. When its wide, frightened eyes saw me it tried to run but it was too weak. I released my second arrow, putting the poor creature out of its misery. We were going to eat well tonight, but there was still the matter of the mauled hunters to take care of.

I trussed the boar and tossed my rope over a tree limb high enough to haul it up so no other animals could get hold of it while I investigated. This jungle was full of all sorts of creatures and I’d lost several nights worth of meat by forgetting to factor them in. It wasn’t a very good first impression on my new hosts.

When the boar was secure I slung my bow over my shoulder and trekked to where I’d last heard the campers.

There weren’t a whole lot of places for someone like me to hide from a government with everything at their disposal. I’d thought I was safe in Rat City where there was no technology for them to track.

I would have been if they hadn’t had an inside man.

I’d been running for six months and still didn’t know for sure who’d turned me over. I had an idea; it was between two people I’d spent a couple months with in Rat City. Rosa had a grudge against me because William Burke, now the Patriarch of Rat City, was more interested in me than her. But the one I would have put my money on if I had any was Steve. He had more of a reason not to like me. I’d discovered his plan to kill Burke and Rosa after he’d killed Rat City’s previous leader Solomon.

He’d known who I was from the beginning.

The forest had direct trade routes to the capital city, so it was the last place anyone would look for me. That made it mostly off the radar and I hoped it stayed that way just a little while longer. I didn’t now what Steve gained from giving up Rat City to the government, but I needed to find out. Whatever it was, they weren’t safe as long as he was out there.

Two young men lay on the ground in a poor of their blood; one was face up and the other face down and he was a bloody mess. He’d been gored in the stomach and was still trying to hold himself together with his hands. I was closest to the one face down, so I checked his pulse, even though I knew they were both dead. I leaned over the second one to check his pulse. His eyes rolled around to look at me and I pulled back.

Help me, he whispered.

You’re already dead, I said. Your brain just hasn’t caught up yet.

I thought of the way Steve had been mauled by a dog when he was younger, his stomach ripped apart and sewn back together by a talented and devoted doctor.

And I thought of another doctor who could do the same thing.

I thought of Burke.

He might be able to save this man’s life if there was anything left to save.

Please. Please. He begged. The word was nothing more than the movement of his lips and he repeated it over and over, confirming what I’d said. His brain was fighting to say alive. It just hadn’t caught up to the fact that he was already dead.

I’ll do what I can.

Without putting my bow down, I pulled off my over-shirt and then my second shirt and stuffed the cleanest one into the man’s wound. He gurgled in his throat and blood coated his lips. I tried to ignore it by inspecting his clothes. He only wore one layer, which told me he wasn’t from around here. The winter months in the jungle were more brutal than on the prairie. They were coming to an end, slowly being replaced by the rainy months, but the nights could still dip well below freezing. At least he’d dressed in a mossy green tunic so he would blend into the forest foliage. His pants were generic and his shoes were all wrong. So were the dead man’s.

These young men were not hunters.

They were city boys.

Where did you come from? I asked. I looked around to find something I could lash together to carry him back to town. Their tent would do just fine. Talk to me and hold this as tight as you can while I figure out how to get us back.

I put his hands over the shirt and pressed down. He gurgled again and I turned away as my stomach rolled and tears filled my eyes. I fought back the memory of the screams, joined now by new images of blood and death. I wondered if I’d ever be whole again.

If my mind would be whole again.

If I’d sleep again.

Where did you come from? I asked again to keep from retching as I tore into the tattered tent with bloody hands and the shiv I kept at the small of my back.

Lens, he said through the gurgle of blood in his throat. I regretted asking him to speak. I’d seen enough blood and death to last a person a lifetime, but with the status I’d been born into I knew that it was only the tip of the iceberg.

Lens was a city of opulence and indulgence. The memories I had of it weren’t all bad, but they weren’t all good. It was where the Twelve Seat Government was based.

What’s your name? I tore a strip of canvas from the tent and tied two of the tent posts together to create the beginnings of a sort of body sling.

Freigh. His voice was softer and the letters stuck together from the blood.

What are you doing all the way out here getting gored by boars, Freigh?

He tried to answer, but it came out as nothing more than a cough. Blood bubbled between his lips. I set down what I was working on and went to his side.

Freigh! I shook him until his eyes opened. Stay with me, Freigh. If you want me to save your life you’ve got to help me out, okay? This man was not going to make it. I knew that in my heart of hearts, but I couldn’t just let him die.

When I was convinced he had a few more minutes of life left in him, I went back to my sling and started working double time. Using my shiv, I ripped strips of canvas and weaved them together like I’d been taught so long ago. I was surprised I hadn’t had to use my sling-making talent more often. I tied off the last piece of canvas and carried it over to Freigh.

This is going to hurt, I told him, but I have to get you on here so I can get you back to town.

He nodded, his eyes full of pain, begging me to do something to stop it.

If you survive this you’re going to have quite a story to tell when you get back to the city.

It took three tries to get Freigh’s dead weight on the sling and situated so I was confident he wouldn’t fall off, but I made the mistake of positioning him so that he could see his dead friend. He whimpered and when I looked down there were tears rolling down his face. Pink lines of blood and tears ran down his chin and into his shirt.

Sorry, I said. He was gone when I got here. But I will do everything I can to make sure you make it.

It was a hollow promise and I think we both knew it, but I made it anyway and determined to do my best to keep it. With my fingers twined in the mesh of the sling, I set off toward the trees where they were the thickest, pulling the dying man behind me. I walked as fast as I could. I didn’t pray consciously anymore, but in my heart I knew there was a prayer going out with every step that I took. My mother had made sure to raise me with the faith of our people, but after her gruesome death it was hard to ask anything of a God who would allow a girl to watch her parents be burned alive.

Still, old habits were hard to break and I’d seen enough in my day to know that when He wanted He could make things happen.

I’d been in the forest hunting for a couple of days with very little rest, so by the time I reached the edge of the trees I was exhausted, hungry, and probably a bit dehydrated. Freigh wasn’t a big man by any means, but he was still heavy and I didn’t even know if he was still alive.

If you were to look into the trees you would never see the tiny wound tethers tucked up into the bows. They ran along the bark of the trees and looked like hapless vines. I grabbed hold of one of those tethers and tugged as hard as I could. Little chimes rang, setting off more and more until it sounded like the trees were alive with the pretty, gentle ring. I dropped my arm down at my side and leaned against the tree while we waited for help. Exhaustion rolled over me in a wave and my knees buckled. I dropped to the ground next to Freigh and he looked up at me with startled, pained eyes, like he was afraid his savior was going to die along with him.

Help is on the way, I said. Just so tired.

I didn’t know the last time I’d eaten anything more than leaves and the few berries I knew were safe. I drew the line at bugs and bark. At least for now. Knowing my appetite, there was a good chance I’d give in soon.

The brush moved gently as if blown by the wind, and then people emerged. Two men and a woman surrounded us and I breathed a sigh of relief.

What have you got there? one of the men asked.

I didn’t answer. I was too tired to answer, but it didn’t matter. It didn’t take much to figure out whether the man was alive or dead.

Gods! We’ve got a live bleeder here!

Voices shouted orders. Hands caught me by the shoulders and guided me away. Someone inspected me for wounds.

Where’s the bore? someone shouted in my face.

Strung up, I said, finding my voice. His friend is still out there. He’s dead.

I was guided to a platform, and with a blink I was lifted into the trees. The forest town wasn’t really a town at all, but a city in the trees. I rose through the limbs, trying desperately to rouse myself.

I never thought I would miss a place like the rat’s maze as much as I did. Living in the trees was interesting, but I missed the rats I’d begun to can family.

I need a runner, I said. There was always someone listening here. I need to send a runner to get a doctor.

The lift stopped and a woman spoke out of the trees. We have doctor’s here.

None that can save that young man’s life. I know a doctor who can.

There was quiet for a long moment. Who is he and where do we find him?

William Burke. He lives in Curr.

He won’t make it through the night, she said. Cur is three day’s run from here, not to mention how long it will take to find this William Burke.

I have to try.

I’ll send a runner. You need to sleep. Good job on getting that bore. Finally.

Yeah. It had taken that long. They wouldn’t keep me around here much longer if I didn’t start doing better.

My vision swam as the lift started moving again and I was carried up to my platform. The rooms were little more than wooden platforms hung with curtains for some semblance of privacy. But privacy didn’t exist here. Secrets didn’t exist. If the people of Rat City were paranoid, then the Dwellers of the Living Forest put them to shame. These people still didn’t know who I was and I hoped to keep it that way for a few days more.

I was going to see Burke again. Maybe. I’d already accepted that I probably never would. That understanding made my chest ache, but if they were able to find him and bring him here, whether Freigh lived or not, I would at least get to see his face again.

Maybe he wouldn’t kill me.

Maybe he would let me explain that I hadn’t betrayed him.

Yeah, right.

Even as I thought it I knew that probably wouldn’t happen. Burke had said he would kill me if I ever came back, but did that mean he would kill me here too? I didn’t believe he would actually be able to kill me then, but after six months of ruminating on my supposed betrayal he just might be able to do it now. Even the purest hearted of people were able to do horrible things.

I collapsed on my pallet without washing up. I didn’t have the energy to clean myself up or even eat. I had to pee something fierce, but it would have to wait.

Flames and screaming.

Screaming and blood.

Blood and smoke.

I woke up without having gotten enough sleep, as usual, and it took me far too long to realize that the smoke I was smelling was from the dinner fires and not the bodies of my parents or my friends burning to death. I wiped at the tears on my cheeks and waited for my breathing to slow down.

When Burke slept next to me I didn’t wake to my heart racing so fast I thought my ears would explode or trying to drag in more air than my lungs would hold.

There was a gentle chime, different from the alarms I’d sounded earlier, and I looked up. Somehow, at some point, that chime had begun to signal safety to me. I crawled out of my pallet on the floor, put on some clean clothes, and clipped out of my room. This was the time of day when the others were down for dinner and no one was watching me. I climb up into the tops of the trees as far as I dared go. If I straightened, on a clear day I could see across the prairie. To the west I could see the empty land where Curr was supposed to be. To the northwest was the Wastelands and the strange craggy mountains out that way. And to the northeast was Lens.

And just below me, the chime rang and the trees rustled, and I followed, out and down, away from the fires and the smell of smoke and cooking meat, and deeper into the thick of the Living Forest. Southeast where I’d never been.

When I reached the ground, I dropped as quietly as I could and started walking along an invisible path that only I knew. I’d picked out tiny landmarks to follow, creating a path to my destination.

You were screaming in your sleep again, a deep, accented voice said as I passed a large tree.

I jumped and screamed, my nerves still raw from the nightmares.

Shit, I said. Why do you do that?

You’re supposed to know when there’s someone around.

Yeah, well, it’s kind of not fair for you to do that after the nightmares.

I took a deep breath and kept walking. He’d follow me. He always did. I called him Scar because half of his face and neck were covered in burn scars. He knew what I saw when I closed my eyes. He understood the nightmares.

The Tree Dwellers of the Living Forest were the most suspicious people I’d ever met. I’d never ventured far into these lands before. People were said to come in and never come out. I now understood why. It was true. The Dwellers didn’t give names to strangers or anyone they didn’t trust. I didn’t know any of their real names and they didn’t know mine. I was fine with that for now.

Because we had a common ground, even though we’d never really shared stories, Scar seemed to understand me, even if he didn’t fully trust me. He’d understood when I woke everyone screaming the first night and had me put on a platform away from everyone else. He’d understood when he caught me wandering the forest in the middle of the night because I couldn’t sleep and shown me the safe places to go when I needed to breathe and clear my head. And he understood now that I just wanted to be alone in my own head, but I didn’t want to be by myself.

I followed my invisible trail into the woods. It was harder to navigate here. The brush was dense and the trees grew their thick, heavy limbs closer to the ground where the Dwellers didn’t bother to keep them trimmed back. Few came back here. It was their buffer to the other side, whatever was over there. I liked to imagine it was a world of gold diamonds. It was stupid and irrational, but it something pretty for my mind to grasp onto when I needed it to think of anything but those flames.

Nestled in the thickest part of the forest, a river flowed with the most beautiful blue water. It was cool and clean and because there was light from the sun this deep in the forest, the rocks and fish glowed. They reminded me of Burke’s temple shrine buried so far beneath Rat City. The water there glowed too, but I didn’t see any of the markings of the old gods here that were in the shrine.

I walked out over the water on a felled tree that I used as a bridge and quickly shucked my shoes and outer clothes. Scar would know by now what I was going to do, and if he watched from the trees, he was good a pretending that he didn’t. I stepped into the cold water and shivered. The tiny glowing fish darted away, but curiosity brought them back again. Their tiny mouths nubbed at my toes until I gathered my courage, took a deep breath, and dove in.

The river wasn’t deep and it didn’t flow fast, at least not here. I swam against the current for a little while, then floated on my back as it took me back down and past my bridge. I wouldn’t go far. Farther down it started to pick up speed and I didn’t want to get carried