Page 48 of The White Dragon Revealed

“Kaila, we are keeping a low profile. The cloaks and hoods, remember?” Valerius hissed at her.

“Oh, you’re no fun!” She sighed but stopped herself from touching any other pedestrian.

Valerius watched as the Snake Shifter took the boy through a door guarded by two Rat Shifters. The Rat Shifters immediately sidled back into place, blocking the door completely even though neither of them were more than five feet tall and skinny as rails.

Few people were scared of Rat Shifters. In Wally’s former life, Valerius remembered that he had made his mark in the underworld by being smart and using force as the last option. He’d also organized the Rat Shifters into large groups that bound together. There was nothing quite as horrifying as hundreds of rats swarming. But Marban hadn’t kept Wally’s way of running the Rat Shifters. Or maybe with the crowds there simply weren’t enough Shifters to keep more than two Rats together.

The two Rat Shifters noticed Valerius and Kaila approaching--and how could they not both of them towering over much of the crowd, not to mention the hoods and cloaks?--and immediately their noses were twitching. Valerius could almost imagine the whiskers that would be there in their rat forms.

Valerius stopped about two feet from the Rat Shifters. He loomed above them. He doubted they could see his face clearly even this close up as the shadows were much deeper here away from the stage.

“Get lost, long legs!” the Rat Shifter to the right said with a stab of one pudgy finger towards Valerius’ stomach. He would have had to lift his hand higher to aim at Valerius’ chest.

“Long legs? Oh, that’s a great nickname! Now do me! Do me!” Kaila clapped.

The two Rat Shifters looked at one another as if Kaila had lost her mind. Valerius did not blame them. He often thought the same.

The Rat Shifter to the left growled at her, “How about I call you 'dead meat', because that’s what you’re going to be if you don’t beat it!”

“That’s not very nice. I was hoping for a nickname, not an insult!” Kaila fumed.

“What’s in there?” Valerius asked.

“Nothing you need to know about, long legs!” the right Rat Shifter spit.

Valerius envisioned ripping back the hood and leaning down right into those pugnacious faces and watching as their looks of defiance became ones of fear. But he couldn’t do that because news that he was there would spread. It would likely cause a riot, not because people would be running towards him--asking for pets or tail rides, thank goodness!--but rather racingawayin terror. The last time he was here, he’d killed people after all. So relying on who he was wasn’t going to work.

“I’m curious about the boy the Snake Shifter brought in there,” Valerius said.

The two Rat Shifters looked at each other like two ugly book ends and chortled.

“Ah, little Stevie will finally get what’s coming to him!” The Rat Shifter on his right held his stomach as he let out a deep belly laugh.

“What is Stevie’s supposed crime? He looks all of thirteen,” Valerius said.

“Stevie’s been a thief since he came out of his mama’s womb andstole her life!” The Rat Shifter on the left found that little line hysterical.

Valerius’ hands fisted at his sides. “And he was caught stealing now?”

“Pickpocketing! I’m sure George found him trying to lift a wallet or two.” The Rat Shifter on the right shrugged.

“He’s violated Marban’s rules. He’s bound to get the Chop!”

More chortling.

“What do you mean ‘the Chop’?” Kaila was frowning at them. Valerius could hear it in her voice but couldn’t see her face.

“None of your business, dead meat.” The Rat Shifter on the right found that even funnier than anything they’d said so far.

But Valerius didn’t imagine anything named “the Chop” could be good. He thought of how thieves in certain cultures had their hands chopped off. Could that be what was to be Stevie’s fate?

“Marban wants a tween to be punished severely for pickpocketing even if he doesn’t have enough food to eat or shelter to keep himself warm and dry?” Valerius heard the outrage in his voice.

The Rat Shifter on the left snarled, “Marban does what he can for those who can pull their weight and follow the rules. If you want to blame someone, blame fate.”

“Blame the President of the United States! Blame King Valerius!” The Rat Shifter on the right gave him a narrow eyed glance.

“You blame Valerius for this? For the evilyoudo? For the harming of a child?” Kaila growled. “If not for Valerius, the Shifters would be on human dissection tables or in their jails or buried six feet under! If not for Valerius, Illarion would have you all in his work camps or Mei would be putting your little rat brains in her mechanical men! Valerius makes it possible for you to live a good life and do the right thing! If you choose not to… well, that is your choice!”

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