A Tale of Adventure, Chapter 4

Zira was a tough rat. She had to be, to live in the dungeons of Lord Sinister. Even so, she felt sorry for the new prisoners, who were treated ten times worse than the others. She leaped up to their cage. "Hey." she said, "How's it going?" The boy started, but Gatreng replied as if a talking rat were something he saw every day, "Not bad, we're just trapped in a dungeon." "Ah, and here lies the problem," the rat said sarcastically. "By the way, I'm Zira. Who're you?"  "I'm Gatreng, but you can call me Gatry." "And I'm Paul." the boy squeaked. "Hi, Zira." "Listen, I'd love to just talk," Zira said, "But we've gotta get out of here." Paul gaped. "You mean...you...will free us?" he finally managed. "Thanks, Zira." Gatry said. "You won't regret this."