By Daniel Schwabauer.

Driven by its merciless leader, an army of rats has beseiged Tira-Nor. The city's last hope lies with a mouse so small and so young that even his family calls him 'Runt.' But it is not just the rats who want JaRed son of ReDemec dead. A cold shadow stalks the war-darkened tunnels of the unerground mouse city. A bodiless evil threatens to bring the myths of the Ancients suddenly to life. Betrayed by a hatred as thick as blood, surrounded by enemies too terrifying to comprehend, JaRed is about to encounter a power beyond even that of the Great Owl...a power that will fling him into a destiny wilder that anything he's ever imagined!

Extras
Tira-Nor
“Tira-Nor" is the name of the underground mouse city in Daniel Schwabauer’s novel, Runt the Brave. Here you’ll find more information on the lives, leisure and lore of the mice who dwell in the city of the Ancients

Glossary

The Commons
The Largest section of Tira-Nor. Home of the “common”mice that make up the city’s majority. The Commons is the shallowest level of the city--the section closest to the surface-- though in recent years it has expanded downwards as the population of the city increased and the need for more chambers grew more urgent.

ElShua
The soft-spoken Creator. The name literally means, “ who whispers,” meaning that the Creator speaks quietly and with great significance. To a mouse, a whispered message is more important than a shouted one. But the greater implication of “who whispers” is that of nearness. Since a whisper cannot be heard from far off, ElShua must be close at hand. A more complete and accurate translation might be “He who is so close He need only whisper to be heard.”

Gate
An entrance into--and exit from--Tira-Nor. A hole in the ground protected from inside by a series of guard chambers and booby traps. The twelve gates of Tira-Nor are named for their location around the city. Because Tir-Nor is a city of multiple layers, its gates vary in depth, size and complexity.

The Great Owl
Death. To mice, an agent of ElShua, though one greatly feared. It is significant that mice instinctively see death as a nocturnal predator, shrouded in mystery. The Great Owl comes in darkness, unseen and unheard. He is rarely anticipated. A vast number of conflicting myths and fables surrounds the Great Owl. Some mice, most notably the Seers, claim that a literal spirit being--swooping on outstretched wings as white as snow--descends to bear the souls of the dead to eternity.

The Kingsguard
The personal bodyguard of the King of Tira-Nor, and the elite fighting force of the city. Also, the section of Tira-Nor that houses the Kingsguard warriors. This section is the only one in the city that encompasses and connects all others, somewhat like the hub of a wheel. From the Kingsguard level of Tira-Nor, it is possible to get to any of the other sections.

Lord Wroth
The god of the rats, prairie dogs, weasels, and possums. Many mice believe Lord Wroth to be a real spirit being, while others say the power of the legend of Lord Wroth lies in the fact that the rats believe it. Rat theology describes a great number of different gods acting in various ways with different forms of life. Thus the rats worship Lord Wroth, the mice follow ElShua, the snakes serve SeeEqueq.

Militia
Volunteers and conscripts--mice who are unaccustomed to the disciplined life of a soldier--who are, in times of dire need, taken into civilian military service in order to defend the city. This service is called the militia. It is usually commanded by two or three officers of the Kingsguard.

SoSheth
The first King of Tira-Nor, anointed by TaMir some three years before the events of this book. TaMir later revoked the blessing of ElShua he had previously given to SoSheth, and from that point on SoSheth never esteemed TaMir, nor the God TaMir claimed to serve. It was also at this point that SoSheth began to act strangely, and many in his service noticed that he became volatile, short-tempered, and unpredictable.

TaMir
The Seer who anointed SoSheth--and later JaRed--king over Tira-Nor. Marked from birth as a Seer by his all-white fur, TaMir was dedicated to ElShua by his mother and mentored by RuHoff.

Tira-Nor
Literally, “the city of promise.” Generations earlier-- according to stories handed down by the elders-- ElShua drove the ancients, the prairie dogs, from the city and gave it to the mice.

The Ur’Lugh
The personal bodyguard of GoRec, King of Rats. Most of the Ur’Lugh was destroyed in the Battle of JaRed’s Fang, as it came to be known later.

Pronunciation Guide

ElShua - el shoo uh
GoRec - go wreck
HaRed - ha red
JaRed - jare ed
JoHanan - joe han un
KahEesha - ka ee shuh
LaRish - la rish
ReDemec - red em ick
SoSheth - so sheth
TaMir - tuh meer
Tira-nor - tear uh nor
Ur'lugh - oor lug
YuLooq - you luke

Naming of Mice

The mice of Tira-nor, by tradition, take their proper "legal" name from the parent of the same sex. Male children are named for their father, females for their mother. Names are made by combining a new syllable with the first one or two syllables of the parent's name. The new syllable represents identity and distinction; the old represent(s) community and tradition.

Thus were ReDemec's sons all given his identity ('red') in addition to their own; keered, bared, mared, hared, jared. The lone daughter was named after the mother ("EeShawna") and given her own identity, kah, which means "life" (she meant this in the context of bearing children, as though to imply, because this was an only daughter, that her own ability to bear daughters was passing to the next generation.

This practice actually blurs generational heritages because an individuals name only lasts two lifetimes. Probably this was intended to hinder the building of powerful family clans, which would weaken the city's sense of community. Rarely are grandparents' names remembered in a familial way.

SoSheth, the first outright king of Tira-Nor, exempted himself from this tradition by naming his son "JoHanan" - probably because he anticipated fathering a stronger, more powerful male and wanted to reserve his own name for his imagined successor. It was rumored that he intended to name this would-be mouse "SoSheth."