Lynne Reid Banks - Harry the Poisonous Centipede

Harry, as I told you, lived in a hot country. But he didn’t know that for a long time because he didn’t live on the surface of the earth where the sun shone a lot. He lived in a mass of dark, cool tunnels under the ground.

He slept all through the day. But at night he would wake up and run along these lovely earthy tunnels, looking for things to eat. What things? Well, if you must know:

worms,

slugs,

beetles,

spiders.

All kinds of insects and creepy-crawlies that were smaller than him.

He would chase after them, bite them, and, when the poison from his poison-claws had paralysed them, crunch them up. Well, crunch if they were crunchy, like beetles, or munch if they were munchy, like worms.

Belinda, being much more than twice his size, could tackle big things like toads, small snakes, young mice and lizards. But then, she could go up to the surface to hunt. Only for a short time, though. Centipedes mustn’t get too dry or they can’t breathe, and it’s much easier to keep damp underground.

If she heard something thumping about on the surface that sounded good to eat, she’d nip along an up-going tunnel, scurry to the thumping thing, whatever it was, and if it wasn’t too big she would bite it with her poisonous pincers and drag it back down the tunnel to share it with Harry.

Belinda was a very good mother.

When Harry and her other babies first came out of their eggs, she’d make something like a little basket to keep them in, and tended them carefully until they were old enough to fend for themselves.

All her other many children had gone off and left her, as young centipedes usually do, but Harry stayed. He loved her and she loved him, calling him love-names like “best-in-my-nest” and “pride-of-my-basket”. She was always scared that something might happen to him, so she carefully warned him of any dangers.

Of course he didn’t take much notice. He was a big, strong, armoured centi (that’s a child centipede) with two fine poison-claws, who could run faster than anything he’d ever met. What could hurt him?

“Lots of things,” Belinda said firmly. “There are many things bigger than you Hxzltl. When you’re grown up and go up to the big, open, no-top-world – and you must not do so before – you’ll find you’re not the biggest thing around, by any means – or even the fastest!”

And she told him about flying things that swooped down and grabbed you, and great legless belly-crawlers, bigger than the tunnels the centipedes lived in, and enormous hairy things with huge sharp teeth and hot breath that could run even faster that the fastest centipede.

But the most awful things of all, Belinda told him – the biggest and the most terrifyingly dangerous – were Hoo-Mins. (Of course she pronounced it H-Mns.)

“I’ve nearly been killed by a Hoo-Min,” his mother told him in a hushed tone. “Twice.”

“Mama!”

“Oh yes! Once when I couldn’t find food in the tunnels, I had to go up in the bright-time. All that bright light muddled me, and I got too far from the tunnel entrance. I was running back to it when a black shadow fell on me. Well, you don’t know about shadows because you’ve never been out when big-yellow-ball is shining, but it’s a dark thing that falls on you. And when you feel that shadow, you have to run like mad!”

“Why, is it heavy?”

“No. It doesn’t weigh anything, itself. But behind it there is always something. And this something, this time, was a huge heavy thing that came crashing down. It just missed me! I just ran out in time! And although I ran as fast as I could run, this huge heavy thing kept up with me, and came crashing down again and again!”

Harry shuddered. “What happened, Mama?”

“I dodged! I zigzagged!

I ran as never before! Suddenly I saw a tree with some leaves lying under it, and I raced for it, and dived under the nearest leaf. But I didn’t stop there. And just as well!

“As I ran under the leaves, hunting for a hole, the crashing thing came down just in front of me! I had to turn and run back into the open. Then I ran in every direction.

“Thank goodness I found a hole and rushed down it just as the Thing came smashing down again. Oh, Hxzltl, you can’t think how nearly you lost your mama that time!”

“And that was a Hoo-Min that was chasing you? How do you know?”

“Because, when I got my breath back and got nice and damp again – as well as nearly getting squashed, I’d nearly Dried Out! – I peeped out of the hole, and saw it, walking away. I realised then that the crashing thing was its foot. It only had two, but they were ENORMOUS, Hxzltl!”

“How big, Mama?”

“As long as me and then as long as me again! And that’s just its foot!” She stood in front of him, waving her feelers in a very solemn way. “And now that you are a big centi, I have something very important and dangerous to show you.”

She led him through their usual tunnels, and then turned off, along one she had often told him never to go down. It sloped downward, deep into the earth, and they followed it until they found themselves in a big kind of cave.

It felt very damp here – extra damp. There was a gleam down below – a pool! Harry got excited.

“Ooh, Mama! Look at that water! Is it like the sea? Can I play Sea-Centipedes?”

Harry had heard many stories about his cousins, who long ago had moved from earth-tunnels to homes by the ocean.

But Belinda shook her head. “No, Hxzltl! This is no place to play! It’s very, very dangerous. Now, come over here, and look up.”

Harry could now see that there was a faint light in the cave. It was coming from a tunnel above their heads that seemed to go straight up.

“What a funny tunnel!” he said. “It’s so straight! And its walls are as shiny as your cuticle, Mama!”

“Yes. No centipede burrowed this one! You can see it’s not made of earth like our regular tunnels. It’s made of some hard shiny stuff. It’s not easy to get a grip on with your feet. But just the same it’s possible to climb it. I know because—” She stopped suddenly. “Only you mustn’t, Hxzltl. Do you hear me? You must not go Up the Up-Pipe.”