Quietly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself for battle. He had to be silent, no sudden movements, so he tried to slide and crawl over the hard ground like a snake to get to the enemy. The stench of death filled the air, making his stomach and head reel. So he took several deep breaths and continued. Then, as a sudden burst of moonlight struck Quiggly's face, he saw the huge, fat, and bloated rat from which the man's head and headless corpse sprouted. Quiggly tried not to look at it. The only thing he could do was put a large arrow through its head as he had seen the boys do on many occasions. The rat turned, as if it had sensed his presence, and a black hole of an eye bulged. But Quiggly was ready with another arrow, and he plunged it through the eye. "There's some'n's worse than spiders an' snakes!" the voice of the blacksmith shot forth. Quiggly heard it and turned just in time to see the man with the torch running toward him. "Don't kill it!" Quiggly said, trying to get a view of the other two men, but it was too dark. "Just try it," the blacksmith said and made a grab for the shaft of Quiggly's arrow. Quiggly rolled as fast as he could and came out on the other side, but only to find the fat rat with the bow legs running on a spindly leg toward him. Quiggly scrambled to get away, but not fast enough. He tripped over a rock and fell forward as he attempted to get up. The rat turned and let loose with a mighty squeak, and Quiggly took off, knowing the arrow would be lost. But the blacksmith was on his feet, and Quiggly couldn't get past him. He was too slow. The rat dashed at him, but his feet got tangled in its fur, and he crashed to the ground. The blacksmith grabbed him around the neck and held him, and Quiggly was about to get the life choked out of him. Quiggly looked about. The blacksmith was in front, the rat was beside him, and the long-legged man was running, bent over, toward him. The blacksmith was pulling at his throat, choking the air from him. Quiggly thought of his mother's cooking and her secret potions. He thought of his father's ax and the fear it evoked in him. He thought of a hundred other things he had come up against in the past and how none of them had been worse than this. But then the long-legged man came. Quiggly saw him in the moonlight, and he knew it was the strangest man ever seen. His eyes were big and round, and his nose was long and flat. Quiggly tried to pull away, but the blacksmith was too strong, and the rat was too fast, and the strange man was just too strange. Finally, the strangest man let out a sound that was a long, high screech, and his long body arched and his head went back, his face distended and his hair became even whiter. And when he opened his mouth and it flared out, Quiggly saw that his jaw was larger than his head and his teeth were long and pointed and the tip of each one was sharp and deadly. Quiggly knew this was it. He was about to die. So he closed his eyes, gave one more breath and, with all the force in his body, sent a powerful arrow through the beast's brain. The blacksmith released him, and he rolled away, gasping for breath. He got to his feet and dusted himself off and then he knew it was time for him to go. He didn't want to go. It was too hard, but something inside him said he had to do it, so he started walking. Suddenly, he felt something tap him on his shoulder, and he turned to see the odd long-legged man. "I don't know who you are," the blacksmith said, "but you saved my life." Quiggly said nothing. "Will you look after us?" the strange man asked. "I can't do it alone. There are so many of them, so many . . ." He shook his head. "There are so many." Quiggly gave a quick nod. "Do you think you could kill a few more?" the strangest man asked. Quiggly turned and looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. He didn't understand. "Kill them?" he asked. "Why would you want to kill them? You're so smart, you could be king of them all." "Yes, that's it," the long-legged man said. "They only come for me, but I'm useless, so they'll be coming for you. Just because you're clever doesn't mean you can do anything about them. I think I know what to do," he said with a sigh. "You have to do something about the rats. There are so many of them, they are going to end the world." Quiggly began to laugh, a low chuckle that started from inside him and turned into a loud cackle. "What's so funny?" the strange man asked. "I'm so glad I came upon you," he said. "Why? What do you want from me?" "When I was young," he said, "I used to come here and play all the time. I used to watch and watch and watch, waiting for you to come and you would come. One night, I came upon you and saw you take one of the rats and crush him to death. I was so frightened that I ran all the way home and told my mother. The next day, she killed my dog and had me leave the village forever. I don't think she could stand to lose another one. But that was only the beginning of it." "What do you mean?" "When I came back the next year, it was as if the very woods and trees became alive. Then I started to hear them. All of a sudden, they would begin to talk to each other. And, in order to scare me away, they would begin to talk among themselves about me. The more they talked, the more frightened I got. I went home and told my mother what was happening. She asked me why I had to get so upset over such a little thing. So she said that if I had to have a dog, she would give me a rabbit. So I went home, and the next night, I came upon her. She was up in a tree, watching the rabbits, and she asked me to come up and get one. "I climbed the tree and reached for a rabbit when it all happened. The moon came out and there in front of me was a cat and a dog, two cats and three dogs, a snake and a deer, an eagle, and a frog, a whole bunch of frogs, some squirrels and a bear. "And I was watching from above, and they were all fighting. I couldn't do anything but watch. All of a sudden, the strangest thing happened. As soon as I saw them fight, they stopped, put on a show for me, like it was an evening of theater. Then, all of a sudden, they changed back into their normal selves. And they were all fighting again. I never saw anything like it, but I climbed down and went home, and the next day, my mother said that I was so frightened that she would give me a dog the next time." Quiggly nodded, as if everything made perfect sense to him. He walked along in the darkness, feeling a closeness he had never experienced, and finally, with a great deal of excitement, he said, "I'm your dog, friend." "No," the strange man said. "You're only the start of it." "What do you mean?" "Just a while ago, I told you that I wanted to be the king of them all. Well, I am. But they want to kill me, and I want you to help me. And then I want you to kill all of them." "Them?" "Yes, the spiders, the snakes, the mange, the rats, everything. If you don't, we're all going to die." "That's a big job, a hard job, but I've got to do it." "Yes, I know. I'll take care of you." And with that, he patted Quiggly's head and walked off into the forest. Quiggly felt sorry for himself, and he didn't like what he had done. But he knew he had to do it and he couldn't go back. As soon as the moon went down, he came upon the rat. It lay curled up near a fallen log, its eyes closed, its tail wrapped tightly around its body, and he knew it was sleeping. And so he made his way up to it, took out his knife, and struck its heart