The Wonderful World of Puss in Boots

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Nighttime had fallen over the capital. Having no money for an inn, Pero and Pierre had made camp in the woods at the base of the palace. Over a small fire they cooked some fish they'd caught, and Pero told Pierre what had happened in the throne room while they ate.

"So that, Pierre, is why the King and Princess are so troubled," Pero finished. Pierre gave a sympathetic sigh.

"Aw, how sad." He looked up at the palace, hardly able to imagine what turmoil the two must be going through.

"Pierre, it's all well and good to sympathize," Pero commented before waving a finger at his friend, "but this could be your chance of a lifetime, boy!" Pierre looked over at Pero questioningly.

"How's that?" he asked.

"It's so simple," Pero answered. "All we have to do is defeat that old Lucifer see -!" He had closed his statement with a mock punch on an invisible enemy, and in his exuberance punched most of his current fish right off the bone. He gave a gasp of surprise, then recovered his momentum and ended his thought. "And then, Pierre, the way is clear for you to marry the Princess." Pierre gasped.

"Pero!" he scolded, standing up, "You're teasing!" Pero stood as well.

"Nope, not teasing, Pierre."

"But - I'm nothing more than a miller's boy. My clothes -" He pulled his sleeves taut and turned this way and that, displaying them for the cat. "- are old, tattered."

"Don't worry," Pero responded, arms crossed over his chest and with a confident, dismissing shake of his head before sending Pierre a smile.

"And... how could we ever defeat an ogre?" Pierre had to wonder if Pero had forgotten that crucial part of his crazy plan. Pero just stepped back and dropped to a knee gallantly.

"Just leave everything to me, lad." He stood as he finished, "The ogre hasn't hatched yet that's a match for an old puss n' boots!"

"Perhaps...." Pero's confidence was reassuring, though Pierre still held his doubts. He was distracted as a light suddenly shone from up above, and the Princess stepped out onto her balcony which by either sheer dumb luck or Pero's cunning they were right below. The gentle night zephyrs brought her sad, sorrowful song down to them.

"Why does the moon keep shining in a lonely sky?
Why do my eyes keep crying? No one's lonely as I, lonely as I."

From his balcony the King watched her and listened to her song, then sadly shook his head and went back indoors. He didn't want to send her to Lucifer's palace - he would've given his kingdom to prevent it!... and sadly it looked like his kingdom would indeed be the price if he did not. 

"Why do the birds keep singing as they pass me by?
All of their songs remind me no one's lonely as I, lonely as I.
Where is happiness? Can it be, only loneliness is meant for me?"

As Pierre watched from where he stood unseen below, she dropped a white rose from her balcony. It landed in front of the miller's son, white as the moonbeams and only half as beautiful as the Princess who shared it's name.

"Must I wait for stars above to give me what I'm dreaming of?
How I wish, how I pray, that something better  will come my way.
I would give all I own to not be so alone today!"

Pierre knelt and picked up the rose, looking at it as he decided what he was going to do.

As she began her song anew, in the bushes, something was stirring. A family of six mice, a father and his five sons, peeked over a rock, looking hungrily at the fish still near the fire behind the lounging Pero, also listening to the song. In unison the father and four of his sons pulled their conical hats down over their faced, revealing eye holes cut in them to turn the hats into masks, and scampered off to steal something to eat. The youngest and smallest was mesmerized by the sight of the fish for a moment and thus was a hair behind the others in following suit, though he quickly fell into line. The father mouse, having noticed the cat very near the fire, quietly approached Pero from behind and hopped onto the stump he was propped up against. Pero didn't noticed, even when the mouse waved a tiny hand in front of his face. Never before had Pero heard such singing, and he was throughly entranced. Quickly the father mouse gave the all-clear, and they went into action, grabbing the sticks the fish were cooking on. The youngest son grabbed one of the sticks with only one fish on it, but quickly realized it was too big for him to handle. He propped it against a rock and stamped his foot against the stick, trying to break it but it wouldn't give. He finally jumped on it with all his weight, and it snapped, the fish bouncing back and landing right on his hat and covering his eyes. He managed to pull himself free, but in doing so pulled his hat off and fell to the ground with a thump. Pero, alerted by the noise, turned his head and blink away his trance to see what was going on, and was quite surprised by what he saw.

Laden with their ill-gotten goods, the family started to head out and was so confident that they were escaping unnoticed they didn't see Pero stealthily get in their way, and they walked right under him. The youngest was last, and as he strolled between Pero's boots the cat bent over and reached back, catching him by his tail. When he realized he was hung up, he looked over his shoulder, then followed his tail up to see what - or rather who - had a hold of him, and instantly panicked seeing the cat.

"Help! Papa, help!"

Instantly the procession of mice stopped and the father mouse turned around, eyes widening and dropping his fish in shock when he saw his youngest son held up by the tail by the standing Pero.

"Little thieves, stealing the food of others," Pero scolded. "I'll eat you."

"Now you're talking, Pero!"

Pero looked over, a little surprised, as Volaire popped up out of a bush.

"Spoken like a true cat!" the one-eyed feline continued.

"Eat him so we can report that you have reformed!" Ardace added in as he stood up from hiding.

"Please eat him, Pero," finished Gideon. "Save us the trouble of getting rid of you!" Pero hesitated for a moment, then grinned and opened his mouth wide, lifting the little mouse as if to really eat him.

"Eat my son and you might as well eat me too!" the father mouse cried, pounding the ground in anguish before giving in to his tears fully and sobbing. Pero closed his mouth and looked back at the three Blunderers with a wicked grin.

"Atta boy, Pero!" Volaire cheered. "Eat him!"

Once more Pero made as if to eat the little mouse thief... then simply licked him and flipped him by his tail lightly to the ground and out of danger.

"Same old Pero," Volaire and Ardace sighed in unison as they drew their swords and advanced. Once more Gideon tried to draw his, only for it to get stuck in its sheath. Fortunately, he was on the ground this time so he only toppled over onto his back when he fell. Once more Pero found himself facing the two older brothers, as he drew his own sword and jumped into the fight. Giving up on his sword, Gideon turned to the scattering mouse family and tried to catch them, but his long sleeves kept getting in the way and allowing the mice to elude his grasping hands.

Step at a time, the two backed Pero up until he was on the edge of a ravine that provided the castle with added defense. He nearly slipped, indeed one foot slid out from under him and sent him to a knee with a gasp as it contacted empty air, then he, glanced above him, stood back up and grinned, turning to face the two.

"Well," he said to them as he actually threw his sword away from himself, defenseless, "it seems you have me cornered, gentlemen, so if you want me you'd better come and get me." Becoming overeager at their victory, Volaire and Ardace charged in unison. At the last possible second, just before he would've been run clean through, Pero jumped and grabbed a low-hanging tree branch above him. Volaire and Ardace were unable to stop and ran right over the edge of the ravine, falling with a yell. Pero heard their rather painful-sounding crash into the trees below, but somehow he didn't think they were badly hurt. Cat's always land on their feet, after all.

Gideon meanwhile had cornered the youngest mouse against the roots of a tree. Slowly, step by menacing step, he advanced, making sure this one didn't get away as the mouse cowered back against the tree's rough bark. It seemed there was no escape this time....and Gideon pounced, only to have his prey snatched away by Pierre. Finding his quarry vanished, the youngest cat rolled over and looked up at Pierre for a moment, then managed to draw his sword and, closing his eyes and giving what was for him a brave battle cry, charged blindly at Pierre, past him, past Pero, and right off the ravine edge himself to tumble after his brothers to the bottom.

"Atten-tion!" the father mouse called, rattling the small tin can he wore for a hat with his baton. Instantly his sons grouped up in their line at the call to order. Pierre put the littlest mouse back down on the ground. Then all the mice turned to Pierre and Pero. "Thank you both very much," the father mouse said solemnly. "We won't forget your kindness. That right, boys?"

"Right!" they answered in unison, the youngest chiming in with a tiny 'Uh huh!" when his father looked his way for his response.

"Oh, please don't uh -" Pero began modestly, a little embarrassed at their gratitude.

"From now on," the father mouse continued unabated, "we will stop being independent burglars and devote our hearts, our hands, and our feet to stealing for you. Right?"

"Right!" his sons chimed in unison, all five of them bowing to Pero and Pierre.

"That's nice...." Pero commented absently, before looking at Pierre. "Pierre, how say you?" he asked.

"I don't know, Pero," Pierre replied.

"Please," the father mouse begged, "let us show you our skill."

"Let me see...." Pero thought for a moment, then his whisker gave a curl and a flick as he got an idea. "Yes, there is a little job you could do."

"Anything!" insisted the father mouse.

"My friend here," he said, gesturing at Pierre, "could use a new suit, one fit for a prince. Could you bring him back one as soon as possible?"

"Pero," Pierre protested, chuckling as the mice crawled over him, taking measurements and tickling a little, "I don't need a new suit."

"Yes you do, yes you do," Pero insisted with a nod.

"Shoulder width, forty-one," one mouse reported, and his father noted it down in a tiny notebook.

"Around the waist, twenty nine," another said.

"Forward!" Pero commanded, rather enjoying this.

"Pero," Pierre tried again, "shouldn't we object to..." He wasn't sure how he felt about theft.

"Pierre," Pero persisted, "the husband of Princess Rosa can't go around dressed like that!"

"No, but I'm not -"

"Will you stop worrying? Leave this to me."

"I -" Pierre finally gave in. There was just no getting around Pero's confidence. "Leave it to you." Wanting to lighten the mood and perhaps give his friend some needed cheer and confidence, Pero paraphrased the Princess' song and sang it back to Pierre, dancing around him in a half circle as he did so.

"Everybody needs somebody and you know it's true. It's true!
For the Princess needs somebody, why can't it be you? Be you!"

With that he picked up the white rose and handed it back with a flourish. Pierre took it, smiled, and nodded. Yes, he would trust Pero.