City of the Rats

Lief slithered cautiously down the slope, holding Reece’s ankles with one gloved hand, and with the other catching at the sides and roof of the passage to stop himself from moving too quickly. It was not easy, for the rock was covered with a thin layer of fungus that slipped and smeared under his fingers. Gradually the passage narrowed until it was just wide enough for one of the big bins to move through without sticking.

Lief’s pack kept catching on the roof. With a shout of warning to Barda, who was behind him, he wriggled till the straps slipped from his shoulders, and let himself slide away from underneath the bag. He knew that it would keep moving after him. The slope had become steeper, and it was all he could do to stop himself from slipping down out of control.

Other things had changed, too. The growling was louder, a ceaseless rumbling that seemed to fill Lief’s ears and his mind. It was harder to hold Reece, who was still not quite awake, but was starting to move his legs, to catch at the walls with his hands, and to raise his head so that now and then it grazed the roof of the tunnel.

And there was light below — a faint glow, too yellow to be moonlight. It quickly grew brighter and Lief realized that he was reaching the bottom of the slope, that the passage was about to level out.

“Be ready!” he shouted to Barda and Jasmine. And almost at the same moment, without warning, Reece’s body began to writhe and twist. He shrieked and kicked. His ankles slipped from Lief’s grasp and he slid away, downward towards the light. Gasping with shock, Lief saw his jerking body reach the bottom of the slope.

But it did not stop. Somehow, it kept moving.

Thinking of nothing but keeping his enemy in sight, Lief let go of the walls and let himself slide down the last part of the slope. In moments he had reached level ground.

Ahead of him the passage broadened. Light glowed softly from the roof. The rumbling sound was all about him. The ground beneath him was no longer the smooth, hard rock of the tunnel, but something softer, lumpier — something that trembled slightly under his hands … and that moved! Like Reece, he was being carried on — and the ground itself was carrying him!

The red-clad figure was crawling a little further ahead. Lief picked himself up and ran towards it, covering the distance in seconds. He jumped for the writhing man, wrestling with him, trying to hold him still.

Their rolling, struggling bodies hit the wall at the side of the passage. Lief felt rough earth beneath him. Rough earth that did not rumble or move. Reece arched his back, cried out, and lay still.

Then Lief realized two things. The center of the passage was a moving path, driven by some unseen machinery. And Reece was dead. Horribly dead. Lief gazed down at the terrible face, and shuddered, remembering Tira’s description of others who had tried to escape through the Hole.

He heard a shout and saw Barda and Jasmine running towards him down the pathway, looming out of the darkness with amazing speed.

“Jump off to the side!” Lief called. “The moving strip is only in the center!”

They did as he told them, stumbling as their feet hit solid ground. When they reached his side, and saw Reece’s body, they gasped in horror.

“What — what has happened to him?” muttered Barda, shuddering.

The palms of the man’s hands, and the top of his shaved skull, were smeared with red fungus, and hideously blistered. Foam flecked his lips. His face was blue, twisted into a grimace of agony.

“Poison!” breathed Jasmine. She looked feverishly around her. “In the Forests of Silence there is a spider whose bite can —”

“There are no spiders here,” Lief broke in, his stomach churning. His finger shook slightly as he pointed to the dead man’s head and hands. “The fungus in the passage — I think — I think one touch on bare skin is deadly. We dragged Reece to his death. He woke, and saw where he was. But already it was too late.”

Sickened, they looked down at the crumpled body. “I did not know,” Jasmine said, defiantly, at last. “I did not know that to take his gloves and the wrapping from his head would kill him!”

“Of course you did not,” said Barda quietly. “How could you? Only the Ra-Kacharz know that it is their gloves and head-coverings that allow them to enter the Hole and live.” He grimaced. “Our clothes are smeared all over with the fungus. How will we be able to take them off in safety?”

Lief had been thinking about that.

“I think that the poison is only deadly when it is fresh,” he muttered, looking down at his own gloved hands. “I do not see how, otherwise, the Ra-Kacharz could go among their people without harming them.”

Barda shrugged. “I pray that you are right.”

There was a soft sound behind them. They spun around and saw the gleaming shape of one of the silver drums sliding down the Hole and coming to rest on the moving pathway. It settled gently and began to come towards them.

“I closed the grille after us, hoping that the cooks would not realize that we had escaped into the Hole,” said Jasmine. “It seems they have not.”

“Not yet,” said Barda grimly. “But once the Ra-Kacharz’ sleeping quarters have been searched, they will know there was nowhere else for us to go. We must find the way out quickly. If we follow this tunnel, I believe we will find ourselves on the other side of the hill.”

Leaving Reece’s body where it lay, they jumped back onto the moving pathway and began running along it, soon leaving the silver drum far behind them.

They had not been travelling for long when they saw a gleam ahead of them, felt fresh air on their faces, and heard the sound of clangs and voices. They jumped from the moving pathway again and began creeping along beside it, flattening themselves against the tunnel wall.

It grew lighter. The voices grew louder. There were strange, snuffling sounds, too — sounds that seemed familiar to Lief, though he could not place them. And then, all at once, he saw a gateway ahead. The moving pathway stopped just in front of it, and a small cluster of the silver bins stood in the opening like guards. Beyond them Lief could see the shapes of trees, and grey sky. A night bird called. It was nearly dawn.

As he watched, three tall figures strode into view. Each lifted one of the bins, and carried it out of sight.

“They were Ra-Kacharz!” hissed Jasmine. “Did you see?”

Lief nodded in puzzlement. So the three missing Ra-Kacharz were here. What were they doing with the waste food? And what was that snuffling sound? He had definitely heard it before. But where?

The three companions crept forward, keeping low and close to the wall, craning their necks to see through the gateway. But when at last the scene outside lay before their eyes, they stopped dead, gaping with astonishment.

The Ra-Kacharz were lifting the bins onto a cart, carefully packing straw between them so they would not rattle together. Two other carts stood waiting, already fully loaded. And snuffling happily between the shafts of each cart was — a muddlet!

“They are taking the bins away! And they are using our muddlets to do it!” Lief whispered.

Jasmine shook her head. “I do not think they are our beasts,” she breathed. “They look very like them, but their color patches are in different places.” She peered around the corner of the gateway and stiffened. “There is a whole field of muddlets just over there,” she hissed. “There must be twenty of them!”

Barda shook his head. “Our beasts are probably among them,” he said grimly. “But they can stay there. I would not ride a muddlet again if my life depended upon it.”

“Well, our lives do depend on our getting away from here as fast as we can,” muttered Jasmine. “What do you think we should do?”

Barda and Lief exchanged glances. The same thought was in both their minds.

“The straw between the bins is deep,” said Lief. “We could hide in it well enough, I think.”

Barda nodded. “So, history will repeat itself, Lief.” He grinned. “We will escape from here in the same way your father escaped from the palace in Del as a boy. In a rubbish cart!”

“But what of Kree?” Jasmine whispered. “How will he know where I am?”

As if in answer to her question, there was a screech from one of the trees. Jasmine’s face brightened.

“He is here!” she hissed.

At that moment the Ra-Kacharz came back to carry away more bins and the companions moved out of sight. But as soon as the red-clad figures had staggered away with their huge burdens, three shadows darted from the shelter of the gateway and climbed into one of the loaded carts. One of them signalled at the trees as she burrowed under the straw between the bins, and a bird cried out in answer.

The friends lay cramped, still, and hidden while the Ra-Kacharz finished their work.

“Was that the last?” they heard a familiar voice ask. It was the woman who had spoken for them at the trial.

“It seems so,” said another voice. “I had thought there would be more. There must be a problem in the kitchens. But we can wait no longer, or we will be late.”

Late? Lief thought, suddenly alert. Late for what?

There was a creaking sound as the Ra-Kacharz climbed into the carts. Then three voices cried, “Brix!” and with a jolt the carts started to move.

Lying under the straw, the three companions could see nothing but patches of grey sky, and, now and then, the shape of Kree flying high above them. If the Ra-Kacharz thought it strange that a raven should be flying before dawn, they said nothing. Perhaps, Lief thought, they did not even notice Kree, so intent were they on urging the muddlets to greater speed.

Lief, Barda, and Jasmine had planned to jump from the cart when they were a safe distance from the city. But they had not counted upon their cart being in the middle of the three. And they had not counted upon the speed of the muddlets.

The carts jolted and bounced upon the rough roads, and the countryside flew by. Even dragging heavy loads, the beasts galloped amazingly fast. It was plain that any attempt to jump would lead to injury and capture.

“We will have to wait until the carts stop,” whispered Jasmine. “Surely they cannot be going far.”

But the minutes stretched into hours, and dawn had broken, before finally the carts slowed and jolted to a halt. And when, sleepy and confused, Lief peered cautiously through the straw to see where they were, his stomach seemed to turn over.

They were back at Tom’s shop. And marching towards them was a troop of Grey Guards.