Tunnel Rat

Milo was sure Larry wouldn't stop at this door this time. But Larry skidded to a stop with both heals and knocked loudly. "Larry is coming in the door now; Justin needs help." Perhaps the insistence in his voice convinced them, or they didn't want to make a new door, but someone inside opened the door, and Larry stumbled into the burrow of Old Healers clan, ducking his head as he carried Justin.

A large woman met him in the hallway. She was young but had a no-nonsense look about her. She was also tall and well-muscled. This was no dainty Puffyfur or svelte and agile shadowskulker. This was Gendifur, and she was respected as much for her kind smile and gentle healing hands as she was feared for her stout muscles and hard-hitting fists. Only one person had ever played 'surprise' with Gendifur. She had broken Jory’s legs and nose and then happily nursed him back to health.

She smiled at Larry. "Good job, you got him here in time. This way." Larry complied immediately, and Milo followed behind. An infirmary had been set up in what had once been a dining room. After Old Healer had bestowed his last ring to her, she had set up the infirmary and moved Bleusnout and Smiley to it. Old Healer had argued, but she had ignored him and done as she pleased, taking over their care and telling him to spend his time finishing the elixir. After she left, the old man relaxed and poured himself a glass of wine. Not being in charge felt wonderful.

She looked at Milo. "You. Use those sharp claws to cut this web off of him, it contains some poison, and we need him free of it, and his fur washed. Someone get me a bucket of water and suds and get started." Milo complied, carefully pulling off the webbing and cutting where he had to. Luckily a lot of it was stuck to Justin's armor. After everything was off of Justin, Gendifur began working on each bite and sting. The stings were the worst. The wounds were weeping pus and black ooze, the skin around them already damaged. Milo remembered having one such wound and nearly dying.

Gendifur had a bowl of mashed roots and mushrooms and was spooning the mixture onto Justin's wounds and binding them. She was instructing other healers as she went, and Milo listened in. "This mixture will draw out and absorb the poisons. The poultices need to be changed every two hours and every thirty minutes for the stings. Those wounds need this mixture; it's mostly mashed Golden Puffball with 1 in 10 parts garlic if you need to make more. It's very effective, but we don't have much of it."

Milo looked over at Larry; he was sitting in a corner, shaking. "I'll treat Larry." Gendifur looked at Larry, "Thank you, that would be best. He went over to Larry, told him what he was doing, and started wrapping his wounds. Larry had so much poison in him that Milo had to change the bandages immediately. The poultice drew out the poison and turned black within only a few minutes.

Larry opened one eye, the other was swollen shut. "Larry hurts, Tallsqueak."

"We'll keep changing your bandages, Larry. You'll get better." Milo wasn't entirely sure that was true. He could tell that Larry's body was fighting the poison, but he was shaking and had a fever.

Larry reached over to the bowl of mashed Golden Puffballs, picked it up, and licked it clean. Gendifur sent over another bowl for Tallsqueak to use. "Larry, that isn't for eating; it's to make you well."

Larry rolled his eyes. "Larry thinks that if Puffballs can make medicine for the outside, they can make medicine inside of Larry. We should have some Puffcakes for dinner, Tallsqueak."

Milo sat very still. Puffcakes. Yellow jellybeans. Special yellow mushrooms make a yellow elixir and cure poison. He knew what Bleusnout had been trying to tell him. Puffcakes!

Petey came into the room, looking worried. "I brought all we have left after we set up several batches of the elixer." He gave a bag of glowing yellow jellybeans to Gendifur and a handful to Larry. Larry ate all of them immediately, chewing loudly.

"I need the twins. Have you seen them?" Petey pointed to the kitchen. "In there, getting food." Milo ran to the kitchen. The twins got up as soon as they saw him. They'd been sneaking up on a chocolate cake. They each grabbed half the cake and ran when they saw Milo come through the door.

"Have to go!"

"Scoutmaster needs us!"

"Special scout stuff and..."

"...we need our energy!"

"Hungry scouts bad..."

"...good scouts are full of cake!"

Behind them, their aunt took down a large bowl and began making another cake. "Thank god. I thought those two would never take that cake and leave. How hard is it to sneak up on a cake?"

Milo stole a handful of cake from each of them. "We need to go gathering. Follow me." Old healer barely looked at them as they entered his office and vaulted from his desk to the not-so-secret door. Harry waved to Milo as he ran through the office and returned to studying the strange book with the elixir recipe. Milo gave the twins a gathering bag to get the puffballs in the cavern and then raced to the cave where he had killed the brute. He ignored all of the shrooms there except for the puffballs.

They were back at Old Healers’ office within an hour, and Milo explained his theory.

"Bleusnout didn't have much time. He knew Rifkin had poisoned him. He grabbed the one ingredient that he knew could cure him."

Harry cleared his throat. "I have found something that ties into your theory. The origin of the Golden Puffballs and why they are so hard to grow. They must be grown in a cave where they can share mycelium with a poisonous species, Red Spotted Eye-Rot. Very bad, that one. The curious thing is, until now, they have only been found in caves with a ring of mushrooms that the Fae planted as a gateway to their lands. Is there such a thing in this hollow?"

Milo looked at Old Healer. "Where did the Hollow get the Jelly Bean bushes?" The old rat shrugged. "Unknown. You'd have to ask the person you got that ring from and his great-grandfather. But it seems obvious that there is some link between Limburger Hollow and a Fae Realm. And that may be our salvation. This elixir cured you and hopefully will cure others."

Milo got up. "Well, the current link to the Fae is sitting in the corner of the infirmary. I need to ask Larry about some of his Flowertown stories, and then I need to cook breakfast. I think the Hollow needs a double helping of Puffcakes."

Old Healer looked at the slowly fermenting Lesser Elixir Vitae. "That is an excellent idea. Anything that can help people recover from the spider cheese or keep them alive for another day is worth trying. And I'm hungry. Be sure to bring a few stacks for myself and Dr. Earthtongue."

Harry looked over at Milo. "Many stacks. I had puffcakes once in my youth and look forward to trying them again."

As fast as the spider army had come, it retreated. Left behind were hundreds of spider corpses and dozens of wounded ratkin. A few would not recover from the poisoned wounds. Several were already dead from the stings of nobles. Arlothe and Cremona coordinated helping the wounded into the Hollow, where they could get healing.

Clan Puffy Fur and the fairies were still in the center of the cavern, clustered around a glowing fissure in reality. Redfawn cautioned the young mages to keep their distance. "A Larry door is different from a door opened by a tunnlemuggle. This one may stay open for a long time! And going through it could be very rough. We'll need to use the door in Larry's house to go home."

The thorn bushes around the door were fading. But a double-thick ring of other bushes were growing, planted by the fairies to help stabilize the door. Already, small green jellybeans were growing on them. Redfawn had planted two Sassafras trees, one on either side of Larry's Door. They'd grow tall in a week, forming an arch with their branches and giving boundaries for the door. The Hero of Flower Town woundn't have any problems fitting through this door.