(M is for magic, maniacal, and muskrat )

Breathing deeply and slowly, Zib began to prepare for the long swim ahead of him. He needed to pass from the Great Marsh unnoticed into the royal canal and then beneath the Grand Lodge, a distance of at least a quarter mile. Twenty minutes under the surface, without a breath. He had stayed under that long easily when romping with his siblings, but this time, the fate of the rebels lay in his remarkable ability.
“Remember to come up quietly, don’t gasp, or you’ll alert the guards,” Max told him. Besides the rebel leader, at least a dozen other muskrats crowded around Zib, eager to see him off.
“I know, I’ll be careful.” Zib continued to breathe in a steady rhythm. Dusk had fallen and the spring night was coming on quickly. He felt in his pouch for the owl feather, and touching it, immediately relaxed. Although he was skeptical as to the feather’s magic potency, it wouldn’t hurt to have it with him, a talisman against the unknown.
Last night, near the end of a two-day secret meeting to organize the planned coup, his father had finally acknowledged the danger and wished him luck. “Someone or something has got to stop Ondatra,” his father said. “He’s maniacal. We have only suffered under his reign.”
The rebels had chosen Zib to begin the campaign. He would enter the king’s compound, wait for Ondatra to retire to his bedchamber and strangle him. Ondatra’s son, Prince Wallace, favored the rebels, they had been told, and might not retaliate. Then again, it might be a suicide mission.
Max took Zib aside after the meeting to give him the wing feather of the great horned owl. It had provided protection for several generations in the Great Marsh, and now would bestow on the young muskrat a way to slip into the Grand Lodge scentless, a kind of invisibility that would give him extra minutes to hide.
“The future of this kingdom rests with you, Zib.” Max was solemn, but a smile played across his face. “You’ll do fine. We’ll be waiting for the signal.”
With one last, deep gulp of fresh air, Zib slid off the bank and into the Marsh.