That night, the cat caught another mouse.

     Tala was woken up by a tiny, pathetic scream of terror that she sensed came from downstairs, in the kitchen. She also heard the grieving wails of several other mice. <Monster's got Shiver. Poor Shiver.>

     This time, though, Tala was able to do something about it. <Cat!> she shouted in her loudest green voice. <Let the mouse go. Now!>

     She sensed the cat's astonishment. <You're the one,> she heard it say in a delighted, gleeful voice . <The one the other human's looking for. She said she'd give a great big fish to whoever told her where you are.>

     <You're too late,> Tala told it. <She already knows where I am. I don't have to hide any more, which means I can give you a hiding if you don't let that mouse go right away.>

     The cat snarled with fury. <You try anything with me and I'll claw your eyes out!>

     That made Tala pause. The cat was a big, evil looking creature that might well be able to carry out its threat. Maybe she should try a different tactic. <I know where there's some leftover mutton in the pantry,> she said. <Let the mouse go and I'll give you a piece right now.>

     The cat paused, and Tala sensed that it was interested. <Like playing with the mouse, though,> she heard it say. <Mouse squirms and wriggles. Fun!>

     <I'll give you a great big piece of mutton,> Tala replied. <As big as your head. But you have to let the mouse go right away.>

     <As big as my head?>

     <Bigger than your head. It'll take you all day to eat it.>

     <Agreed,> said the cat, and Tala heard a disbelieving cry of relief from the mouse as it scampered away. From nearby came equally delighted cries of delight as the other mice gathered around their newly released comrade. Tala felt a moment of relief and satisfaction, but the cat was still plotting and scheming, unaware that Tala could read its thoughts. <I can catch another mouse later and play with it. Or I can make the human give me more mutton to let it go. Guess I'll be catching a lot more mice in the future.>

     Tala was horrified. She'd left the mice in a far worse position than they'd been in before. Threats hasn't worked. Bribery hadn't worked. What was left?

     An idea came to her and she spoke to the mice instead. <Hey, mice. Can you hear me?>

     <Who's that?> she heard them reply in astonishment.

     <I'm a friend. I want to help you. I need to know, how many of you are there?>

     <Lots, lots. There's me and him and him and her and...>

     Tala waited until the long string of hims and hers had come to an end. She suspected that several of the mice had been counted twice but she was still able to tell that there were dozens of them. Red mice. Almost the size of rats, and enough of them to be able to fight the cat if they all ganged up on it. She had little experience with red mice. The ones she'd had back in her cottage had been common house mice, and if it had been a colony of those creatures here in Drisco's house then their situation would have been hopeless. The trouble was that a mouse's instincts, even those of red mice, were to run away from predators.

     She'd heard stories of red mice, though. Stories of them hunting in packs when the opportunity presented itself, with three or four ganging up to take down creatures as large as moles and even small rabbits. Their teeth were amazingly sharp, she knew, and they could chew through pretty much anything if they were determined enough. All she had to do was stoke up their fighting spirits and make the mice see the cat as a rival rather than as a predator. She was pretty sure she could do it.

     First, though, she had to give the cat its mutton. She had to keep her promises or the animal would never trust her again. She got out of bed, therefore, put on a nightgown and crept downstairs, moving silently so as not to wake up any other members of the family. The cat was in the kitchen waiting for her, staring up at her with its greedy yellow eyes. It followed her to the pantry, its tail twining around her leg, and stared up at her as she cut off a big chunk of mutton from the slab of meat sitting on the top shelf. There were mousetraps and pellets of poison on the floor, she saw, but no mouse droppings. The creatures knew that this room was death to any who entered.

     She gave the mutton to the cat, which ran off with it. <Fooled the stupid human > she heard it thinking. <Gonna live high on the hog now.>

     We'll see about that, thought Tala. She watched as the cat disappeared into another part of the house, then crept quietly back to her room. The house was still quiet, she was relieved to hear. No-one had been woken up by her wanderings. Arriving back at her bed, she took off her nightgown, slipped back under the cotton sheets and let her mind drift back to the mice.

     <Hey, mice,> she called out. <Can you hear me?>

     <Yes,> one of them called back. Their Matriarch, she guessed. The leader of the colony. <Who are you?>

     <Your friend. I'm the one who made the cat let Shiver go.>

     <Lies!> Shiver replied indignantly. <I escaped, because I'm so strong and fierce.>

     Rather than being angered by the lie, Tala was encouraged by the creature's bravado. <My mistake,> she said therefore. <I bet if the cat came back you'd be able to chase it away all by yourself.>

     <Right,> Shiver agreed, although Tala could sense the creature shrinking back in fear at the very suggestion.

     <And if more of you joined in, it would be even more scared. Imagine how scared it would be if you all attacked it at the same time.>

     <All of us? At the same time?> She sensed the entire colony pausing in amazement as they considered the new thought.

     The Matriarch wasn't as happy with the idea, though. <Many of my brood would die,> she said. <We survive by hiding and running, not by fighting.>

     <How many of you have been killed by the monster?> asked Tala. <Many, I expect.>

     <Many,> Shiver agreed. <White Belly and Twitcher and Flower Sniffer and... And...>

     Their memories were short, Tala knew. Even if she managed to persuade them to attack the cat, they would forget they'd done it within a few days and revert to their normal behaviour, which was controlled by breeding and instincts. They didn't have the mentality to learn new behaviours, but the cat did. If it got itself chewed up by the mice often enough, it might be enough to make it too scared of the mice to prey on them again. That was her hope, anyway. And even if it didn't work, the cat deserved a good chewing up anyway for its willingness to sell her out to the Crone. The thought gave her quite a bit of savage satisfaction.

     <If you all attack the cat together, some of you will probably die,> she said to the Matriarch. <But if you don't, the cat will kill many more of you over the weeks and months to come. Fewer of you will die if you fight. Do you see that?>

     It was difficult. Mice, even red mice, had small brains and weren't able to comprehend difficult concepts, but all she had to do was convince them that fewer deaths were better than more deaths. She repeatedly sensed the concept beginning to take hold on the Matriarch's head, only to slip away as its simple mind was unable to grasp hold of it. Also, the Matriarch was hungry. Their small bodies and fast metabolisms meant that they had to feed frequently and it had been a while since the mouse had last had a meal. She was in danger of losing its attention completely.

     Finally, though, she thought she had convinced it and the Matriarch called every member of the tribe to gather around while it told them what it had decided. <Too long the monster has been killing us,> she told them. <We must fight back. We must kill the monster!>

     Tala thought that killing the cat would be beyond their ability. It was faster than they were and would simply run away if they hurt it too much. That would be good enough, though. The cat would learn to fear the mice and Tala would never again be woken up in the night by their terrified screaming. Without the cat keeping their population down, of course, the number of mice in the house would skyrocket, but she had ways of dealing with that. If a colony of mice outgrew their food supply some of them would choose a Matriarch of their own and move away to form a new colony somewhere else. Tala would simply encourage the red mice to do that while their population was still quite small. It was what she had done back in her old cottage.

     The mice were divided between those who were delighted by the suggestion and those that were terrified by it. Those that wanted to attack the cat seemed to be in the majority, though, and as they argued some of the fearful mice were brought around to their way of thinking. <It's in the cupboard under the stairs,> Tala told them, knowing that they would forget their bloodlust if they left it too long. They would just go back to their old habits and Tala would have to start all over again.

     The mice hesitated, though. Even for mice, talking about something was one thing. Actually doing it was another. Already, their resolve was beginning to waver. Tala reached out with her mind, therefore. She sensed the doubt in their tiny minds and...

     She wasn't sure what she did. It was something she'd had no idea she could do until she was actually doing it. Their anger was like a tiny fire. Flickering and on the brink of dying out. What she did was like blowing gently on the hot coals, causing the dying embers to burst into new flame. She did it first to the mouse whose name, she sensed, was Squeaker, one of those that had been most enthusiastic about the attack at first but which had since fallen into a doubtful silence. A moment later he was once again egging the others on to violence, though, berating those that were still hesitant. While that was happening Tala was in the mind of another, fanning the flames of his anger and she only had to touch the minds of half a dozen more mice before the whole tribe was inflamed with fury. All that was then left was for Tala to give the command. <Go! Get the cat!>

     Two dozen mice poured out of their hole in the floorboards and ran along the floor of the kitchen to the base of the stairs. The door of the cupboard under the stairs was ajar and they poured in, the first some distance ahead of his fellows as his rage took full possession of him. Tala heard the cat give a start of surprise and delight. <Something to play with. And I haven't even finished the mutton yet.>

     The cat's delight quickly turned to alarm and fury, tonight, and Tala could sense it feeling a shock of pain as the first mouse bit it hard. <Little bastard! I'll teach you!> That first brave mouse died quickly and Tala felt a brief tang of guilt, but for all she knew that mouse might have been the cat's next victim and, if her plan worked, the mice would soon have no further need to fear it.

     Tala sensed the cat give another yelp of pain as the second mouse arrived and attacked, but this time a third mouse arrived before the second could suffer the same fate as the first. More and more mice arrived to join the attack and Tala sensed the cat's fury turning to consternation and worry as they inflicted one tiny bite after another. Tala sensed one mouse after another crying out as it was caught in the cat's jaws and crushed, but she maintained the pressure, pouring fresh fuel on the fires of their fury every time the death of a comrade threatened to snuff it out. The mice continued to attack, therefore, and Tala sensed the cat cowering in the corner, the last of its anger giving way before a swelling tide of fear. This wasn't funny any more. It wanted it to stop.

     Tala sensed the cat leaping over the mice crowding around it and running for the door. From her bedroom, she heard the pattering of its paws as it fled, sprinting across the kitchen and up onto the table, from which it jumped onto a high shelf. From there it would be able to defend itself if the mice tried to follow, and so Tala allowed her influence over them to fade. It had worked. They'd fought the cat and won.

     The mice were already beginning to forget, sniffing around the bodies of their fallen comrades as if unsure what had happened to them, but that didn't matter. The cat had a much bigger, much more sophisticated brain and it wouldn't forget. Another couple of attacks and the lesson would be drilled in permanently. Touch a mouse and you'll pay. Tala was well satisfied with the night's work, therefore. The mice were glowing with triumph, even though they could no longer clearly remember what they'd done to be proud of, and they were gathering around the half eaten lump of mutton. Their reward for their victory.

     Tala listened to their excited conversations for a while as they fed on the cold lump of meat. Then she turned over in the bed, settled her head comfortably on the pillow and went to sleep.