Author’s Note

I think I have read, in the past few months, more about rats than is good for me. Most of the true stuff – or, at least, the stuff that people say is true – is so unbelievable that I didn’t include it in case readers thought I’d made it up.

Rats have been known to escape from a rat pit using the same method Darktan used on poor Jacko. If you don’t believe it, this was witnessed by Old Alf, Jimma and Uncle Bob. I have it on the best authority.

Rat kings really exist. How they come into existence is a mystery; in this book Malicia mentions a couple of the theories. I am indebted to Dr Jack Cohen for a more modern and depressing one, which is that down the ages some cruel and inventive people have had altogether too much time on their hands.