The imperial minister insisted on joining Annan and Black Pearl's adventure, so Annan introduced her. "This is Miss Black Pearl. As you can see, she's a black dragon."
"You've moved on to another one already?"
Annan's face flushed. He hurried to explain that Rus was only a guard and his heart still belonged to Illymoyas. The mood turned merry.
"They're Greyfur Rats I cor... persuaded to switch sides."
Annan was about to explain why the three Greyfur Rats could be trusted, but the imperial minister cut him off. "I've heard about your abilities. Let's get to the point."
"All right."
Annan patted Black Mole, who had drooped at being left out of the introductions. "It's his loss that he doesn't know your name," he said softly.
The imperial minister heard him but paid it no mind.
It was just a Mutant Rat. What, was it going to turn out to be the Rat King?
"The first group of Ratfolk has already set out. We'll follow the Mousehole tunnel to find them, slip in among them, and investigate the area."
Since the imperial minister was coming, Annan decided to bring Jerry along too. He brought Lulu as well.
If he had to rank the Ratfolk by loyalty, Bola came first, followed by Kandin and Lulu.
Bringing Lulu would keep Lulu and Kandin from putting their clever little Ratfolk heads together and running off to inform on him for some unfathomable reason.
It was a good plan, but they hit a snag at the very first step: turning into Ratfolk.
The imperial minister refused to become a filthy Ratfolk, no matter how Annan urged him to put the bigger picture first.
"Soldier, war is not a game!" Annan suddenly shouted, his patience gone.
The imperial minister snapped his legs together by conditioned