The Revelation

The rats are always the last to know.

When dirt began raining from Shamus' ceiling onto his worktable, he sat up and squinted around through his glasses. "What the devil..."

Shamus jumped when the entrance to his burrow was suddenly filled with rabbit head. "Come on, man!" Tomas shouted into the room. "We're going!"

Standing up and brushing off his vest, the rat asked, "Going where? Oh, never mind... I'm not going in any case."

Tomas tried to force his head farther into the small tunnel. "Shamus! They're going to execute the King! Now, get your furless tail out here!"

Shamus fumbled with his glasses. "...kill the King? Whatever for?"

"Where have you been? They've abolished the Treaty! Now, come on!"

While Shamus stood frozen in shock, the rabbit was able to grab the rat and pull him out of the burrow. "But the Treaty has maintained order for almost two hundred years," Shamus murmured. "Why would they abolish it?"

Tomas tucked the rat into his breast pocket and sprinted into the forest. "You know I'm not much for politics, Shamus."

The rabbit's strong legs soon brought the pair to a tall hill overlooking the meadow. Tomas settled down onto his haunches alongside a contingent of other rabbits. Shamus, however, was hardly aware of his surroundings. His complete attention was focused on the scene below him. The grass was trampled flat by the hundreds... Nay, thousands of animals gathered there. And in the middle of the raucous mob was the guillotine.

Small fights were breaking out all over the meadow. "As would happen, without a Treaty," Shamus grumbled to himself. The Treaty that had enforced peace between the carnivores and the herbivores was now void. Anarchy ruled.

A stir on the other side of the meadow drew his attention. Led by four anonymous black-hooded guards, King Edwin still projected a dignified, royal air about him, despite his broken and muddied antlers.

The catcalls became boos as the buck was led up the steps of the guillotine. Shamus turned away as the king's head was placed in the terrible machine. Although he plugged his ears as tightly as he could, he could not help but hear the sickening thud as the blade came down, nor the tumultuous cheers that followed.

The rat looked up, and saw through his tears that the rabbits had bowed their heads in respect. Not for long, however. "Come on, we're going," Tomas said, scooping Shamus into his pocket again. He started off at a sprint back into the forest.

Shamus soon discovered why the rabbits had departed so quickly. Behind them, the rat heard the howls and yips of wolves and foxes. Hunting. The carnivores had been deprived of this for so long, they all had a bloodlust. Shamus wrung his hands.

Rabbits are not built for a long chase. Tomas was tiring. His breath came in great gasps, and Shamus could hear his friend's heart beating wildly beneath his fur. Finally, the rabbit stopped and took Shamus from his pocket again. "Run, friend," Tomas panted. "Get out of here while you can. I will try to hold back as many as I am able."

"Tomas, don't be a fool..." The rat looked up as a snarling wall of wolves and foxes burst through the brush a few hundred yards away. Instinct overcame friendship, and the rat ran for his life. Shamus dodged around tree trunks and plant stems, ziggingback and forth. Too soon, he was tiring. He looked wildly around for a hole to duck into or a dead tree to hide in, but he could find no refuge. So, he ran on.

His legs failed and he stumbled, falling to the ground. Gasping for air, Shamus lay still for a moment, hie eyes squeezed shut in pain. When he opened his eyes, the rat looked up into the shadowed face of a fox. The vulpine licked his fangs. "Well, well... Seems I caught my snack after all."

Unable to take his eyes from those of his hunter, Shamus whimpered, "Oh, why did the King abolish the Treaty?"

The fox laughed. "Fool... The Carnivore Parliament abolished that unnatural piece of work and overruled the King's veto. We put that traitor to death. Only a prey animal would want that deviant Treaty."

As always, the rats were the last to know.