He was in a dungeon, and his heart was sorely troubled.

“Am I to infer by your machinations that I am near to my goal?” he asked his cellmate.

The little rat (whose name was Master Longtail) smirked. “We will hinder you at every step, clockmaker, near or far,” he said. “The Mouserinks massacre was a crime against all our kind, and we do not intend that your magic nut should ever break our curse!”

“Why should an innocent princess suffer for the sins of her father?”

But Longtail was already off to whisper more poison in the Pistachio Queen’s ear.