"They're going to take over Hamelin," William said numbly. The crowd had dispersed after the Piper had finished his speech, leaving him and Thomas to watch the stragglers from their rooftop hiding place.

Thomas scowled. "What happened to saving your sister?"

"How am I supposed to save her when the Piper has an entire army?" William rolled up the sleeves of his tunic, exposing the bruises darkening his wrists. "I barely escaped from the children last time."

"That may be true, but folks aren't as keen on the Piper as they used to be." Thomas nodded toward a stall near the town square. Half a dozen people clustered around the merchant's meager offerings, clawing at each other in their haste to grab the food on display. "His music may be powerful, but it's no match for everyone's hunger. With him waiting until the harvest before attacking Hamelin, you might have a chance to get people to come to their senses."

"Maybe." William winced as a pair of maroon-clad guardsmen broke up the brawl below before snatching the stall's rations for themselves. If the rats were struggling to survive in Aerzen, Thomas was bound to have his work cut out for him too, especially once the first frost came. "I thought you wanted me to avoid the Piper?"

"I did, but..." Thomas blew out a long, slow breath. "If the rats are going to steal our lives from us, we might as well go down fighting. If you're half as good a musician as your hands say you are, we might actually stand a chance."

William rubbed the calluses covering his fingers. He'd earned the rough skin with countless hours of strumming, with the hard thickness shielding him from the strings' stinging. More than his musical ability, a single word tugged his lips into a smile. "You said 'we'."

"Can't have you face the Piper alone, can I?" Thomas said with a smirk that quickly faded as he glanced around to check their surroundings. Even up on the rooftop, he was always checking to make sure they weren't being watched. "I always come up here to listen to the Piper so I know what he's planning. Next time you come to Aerzen, meet me here, and I can tell you all about what he's been up to. Maybe you'll know how to play that song of his by then."

After Thomas led him as close to the general store as he could without Father potentially seeing them and asking all manner of unpleasant questions, William thanked the older boy profusely for everything he'd done for him. He watched him slip away with an ache in his heart. Though he was accustomed to returning to Father's side, it was not often he had to part from someone he could call a friend.

Father spent the whole ride home in a foul mood, though his grievances with the town meeting were far different from William's. "Bunch of heathens, the lot of them," he grumbled as he drove their cart back toward Hamelin. "Every week the whole town grinds to a halt so they can listen to their mayor prattle about nonsense. Haven't even bothered to rebuild their blasted church."

"Has Aerzen always been like that?" William asked. Though Thomas had told him the adults hadn't always been under the rats' control, he hadn't lived in the town long enough to know when the children had fallen victim to the rodents.

"It's been strange for quite a while, but it's gotten especially bad since a couple years ago." Father cracked the reins, earning a low moo of protest from the ox. "Why? You'd better not be getting any ideas from those heathens, boy."

"I'm not," William said quickly. "I just thought I should ask since I'll be going there more often now that I'm spending more time at the forge." As much as he hated to admit it, his apprenticeship to his father did have the benefit of giving him ample excuses to investigate the Piper.

"It better stay that way. The only good things about that town are their supplies and money. Copper's still copper no matter where you go."

They rode the rest of the way back to Hamelin in silence. After stopping at the forge so William could unload all the supplies they'd bought under his father's watchful eye, the pair returned home just as the sun began to set. William made quick work of his supper before retreating to his bedroom.

Tiny paws skittered across the floor as Burdock slipped under the door to join him. A layer of coal dust coated his brown fur, making him sneeze as he twitched his nose. "I will never understand why you humans surround yourselves in such filth," he said. "The smell was so horrid I nearly lost your scent trail."

"It's a miracle you didn't lose me altogether." William groaned as he eased himself onto his bed, his muscles aching in protest. "The Piper's guardsmen nearly caught me."

"He has grown even more powerful than when I last saw him," Burdock said somberly. "I could scarcely resist his pull."

"I almost gave into it, too. The Hymn told me it would keep me safe forever if I gave up, and..." William dug his teeth into his lip, not caring when the coppery taste of blood washed over his tongue. "Emma needs me, yet I still wished I could run away."

Burdock scurried toward his feet before pausing and sitting back on his haunches. "There is no shame in feeling the Piper's pull," he said, "only bravery in resisting it."

William shook his head. He hadn't even been able to do that much, not without Thomas holding him still. "That may be true for you, but Father was right about one thing. I'm weak."

"Anyone would be in the face of a song that stirs the soul." Burdock lashed his tail. "Powerful though the Hymn of the Whole is, its impact relies heavily on the intent with which it is performed. When the Piper plays his accursed flute, he uses the Hymn to promise all who listen a life filled with safety and contentment, fraying their souls so that they may bond to his own and do his bidding."

"Father was unaffected. He hadn't moved from the general store," William said hoarsely as he blinked back tears. How dare he even come close to crying after he'd nearly abandoned his own mother and little sister? "How am I supposed to save everyone from the Piper if I'm too much of a coward to resist him?"

"You are not the only one who feels powerless despite your inner strength," Burdock said quietly. "Many rats do not wish to obey the Piper, but they are so desperate to improve their lot in life and so afraid of what the Piper might do if they resist his rule that they don't dare to bare their teeth against him."

"I suppose rats and humans aren't so different, in a way." Lord knew William had resigned himself to obeying his father. Despite how much he longed to carve out a life of his own, his need to avoid the pain his father could inflict upon him outweighed any pleasure he may obtain should he pursue his dream of becoming a musician.

"We both have our limits for how much we are willing to tolerate," Burdock said. "I saw much more leanness and hunger than I did during my last visit to Aerzen. Though rats can learn much from the muscles and minds of humans, more still is lost. The art of tending the fields was never Aerzen's realm of expertise, but now their knowledge is meager at best."

"Which is why they're targeting Hamelin." It wasn't the largest or most prosperous town, but if there was one thing Hamelin was renowned for, it was its bountiful fields. The crops had attracted swarms of rats before, and they would do so again. "Looks like they're already getting anxious, too. At the town meeting, one of the weavers spoke out against the Piper. I was certain the guardsmen would take her away, but nobody laid a hand on her even though she wasn't the least bit shy about how angry she is about how things have been going. Many of Aerzen's rats are worried about their children."

"More mouths to feed means more pressure to find food which they cannot grow very well themselves, especially not in time for the harvest season," Burdock said. "With winter on the horizon, the Piper will not be able to quell their discontent for long. If he does not provide them with adequate sustenance before the first frost, not even the Hymn of the Whole can protect him from the disunity and fear he has sown."

"We might not even have to wait that long," William said. "There was a boy a couple years older than me who was able to resist the Hymn of the Whole despite being exposed to it for years. Since Thomas has evaded the Piper's control for so long, maybe he could help us persuade some of the rats to rebel against the Piper, or at least give us information about what he's planning."

"But how could anyone possibly resist the Piper's pull for so long, especially when Aerzen's hardships ought to have given the Piper ample desires to exploit?" Burdock bared his teeth in a yellow-fanged snarl. "How can we be sure this is not a trick?"

"The guardsmen would have grabbed me if he hadn't intervened," William explained. "He can't hear well, so he can't feel the Hymn's pull as strongly as anyone else. I just don't understand why the rats have left him alone for as long as they have."

Burdock blinked. "He is but one human, and if what you say is true, then he could not hope to master the Hymn of the Whole. The Piper would order him to be subdued if he saw him as a serious threat, but alone he is not worth the potential harm such a struggle could cause."

"He wouldn't stand a chance if they all went after him." William shuddered as the memory of tiny fingers digging into his flesh and pinning him to the ground invaded his mind. Emma and the other children hadn't hesitated to attack him, and they hadn't outnumbered him nearly as badly as the people of Aerzen outnumbered Thomas.

They'd seen him as a proper threat, then. Someone too dangerous to allow to observe them freely. Someone worth risking their safety to attack.

Someone who could stop them.

That thought filled William's chest with warmth. For the first time in weeks, he truly believed he could save the children from the rats' clutches.

"We need to convince the rats that Hamelin isn't worth the risk of trying to take it over," William said. "If enough of them think the Piper's plan is too dangerous, maybe they'll leave Hamelin alone."

Burdock flicked his whiskers as if he was shaking off a raindrop. "That would not be enough. If he saw Hamelin as too dangerous, the Piper would simply lead its children and all of his other followers elsewhere, and you would never see Emma again."

William dug his nails into his hands so hard his palms stung where he broke his skin. "Then what can we do? I can't let the Piper take over Hamelin too, but how am I supposed to stop him when he has all of Aerzen under his control?"

"This is why you must master the Hymn of the Whole. Only by using the Piper's own weapon against him can you hope to usurp his control, or at least weaken his influence enough for the Many to realize he is unfit to lead them and rebel."

William's fingers tingled with the urge to pick up his guitar and play, to banish those rodents from Hamelin forevermore. There was only one problem. "Emma and the others almost killed me when I played the Hymn of the Whole wrong. How can I be sure they won't attack me again?"

"Practicing on them would be foolish. I merely had you play what you remembered of the Hymn of the Whole for them so you would see firsthand what we are facing." Burdock scurried to the window, pressing his paws against the glass as he gazed into the darkness. "We shall practice at night, away from listening ears. The Tantalus should allow you to play without attracting unwanted attention, and if you can master using the Hymn on me, surely you will be able to use it on others as well."

"You'd let me use it on you even after you've stayed out of the Piper's control for so long?"

Burdock nodded. "I trust you. Other rats may think me foolish for doing so, but I believe you would not use the Hymn to harm me."

And so it was that the two of them agreed to practice the Hymn of the Whole the next night with none save the moon and the stars to observe them.