Emily Rodda - The Shadowlands

‘Help me!’ croaked a voice. ‘Free me, for pity’s sake!’

The companions darted silently to the cage. Its door was fastened with a heavy padlock. Peering out through the bars was a gaunt, wild-eyed Dread Gnome, his face just visible in the darkness. ‘I am Pi-Ban,’ the gnome gabbled. ‘Pi-Ban, once of Dread Mountain. Are you the cause of the panic? Did Claw send you? Where are Brianne and Gers?’

Barda grasped two of the cage bars and heaved with all his might. But even his great strength was not enough to bend the thick, rigid iron.

Wordlessly, Jasmine held out her dagger. Lief snatched it and began trying to use its point to open the heavy lock. ‘Claw did not send us, exactly, Pi-Ban,’ he whispered. ‘But we know your name. We know you are one of the people who were taken from the Resistance cave to the east of this place.’

‘Where are your friends?’ Jasmine asked urgently, as Barda began to work on the bars again. ‘Where are the prisoners kept?’

The gnome groaned, his eyes fixed on Lief’s hands. ‘The dungeons are below ground level,’ he said, his lips barely moving. ‘But they are empty now. Moss, Pieter, Tipp, Alexi, Hellena… one by one they were taken away. It began the day we were captured, with Moss. It ended yesterday, with Hellena. Only I remain.’

‘But… but surely there are other slaves here?’ Jasmine’s voice was tense.

‘There were others, at first,’ said Pi-Ban. ‘Many, many others, young and old. Some in the dungeons with us. Some—the quieter, more obedient ones—used to clean and carry. But they too are gone now.’

‘These—these quieter ones,’ Jasmine said quickly. ‘Were there any young girls among them?’

‘A girl called Tira, for example?’ Barda panted, pausing for a moment in his struggle with the cage.

The gnome raised his haggard face. ‘Is Tira the one you came for?’ he asked tiredly. ‘Yes, I knew her. A gentle creature, with eyes like the sky. She was one of the Noradz—strange, timid folk dressed in black who cleaned the hallways and brought food and water to the dungeons. At first we thought they served the Shadow Lord willingly, but it was not so. They were prisoners, as we were.’

Barda nodded grimly and attacked the bars again, as though his enormous hands were tearing at the Shadow Lord himself. Lief was frowning over the lock, lost in concentration.

As if unable to bear watching them any longer, Pi-Ban turned and paced to the back of the cage. He grasped the bars and sank to his knees, staring out into the darkness.

Jasmine edged towards him and kneeled down so that she could talk to him face to face.

‘I heard of another girl who might be here, Pi-Ban,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Younger than Tira—a child—with black hair and green eyes, called Faith.’

She held her breath as Pi-Ban frowned thoughtfully.

‘Faith. How strange that you should mention that name,’ the gnome murmured at last. ‘I heard it for the first time only a short time ago, when Guards brought me up here. They were Baks, and in worse tempers than usual. Three of their pod had just been slaughtered by a vraal, which was pursuing a fourth into the desert. They had been ordered to abandon him in order to escort me. I told them I was pleased to hear it. That earned me a bruise or two.’

A savage white grin shone briefly through the tangles of his matted beard, then he sobered once more. ‘They told me I was to be taken to the Shadow Arena, and that Faith had gone before me,’ he muttered. ‘They seemed to think this would torment me, because I knew this girl. But I do not.’

He looked at Jasmine shrewdly. ‘She is of great importance to you, however, that is plain. Who is she, this little girl with black hair and green eyes like your own? And why do you take care to ask of her while your friends cannot hear? ‘

Her mind whirling, Jasmine turned quickly away from him.

‘I cannot do it, Barda!’ Lief muttered from the front of the cage. ‘The lock is too strong. We will have to find another way.’

At that moment there was a loud sound from the room they had just left. Doors were being thrown open. There was the pounding of marching feet.

‘Guards!’ growled Barda.

‘Go! Make haste!’ Pi-Ban hissed. ‘There is another pair of doors behind the cage. I think they are a way out.’

‘No!’ Jasmine whispered desperately, standing fast. ‘We cannot go now!’

‘You must!’ The gnome raised his tousled head proudly. ‘If I am to die, I wish to die as a Dread Gnome, not as a coward who drags others down with him. Get out! Save yourselves!’

But already it was too late. The double doors heaved. Dull red light shone through the gap. The Guards were coming through.

13 – The Tunnel

Like lightning, Lief, Barda and Jasmine leaped for the cage roof, swinging Emlis up behind them. They burrowed under the layers of cloth and lay still, peering out cautiously, their hearts pounding.

‘Time to go, scum!’ jeered one of the Guards. He approached the cage and jabbed a heavy stick through the bars. There was a shower of sparks, and the companions heard Pi-Ban groan and fall heavily. The Guards bellowed with laughter.

Two white-clad figures strode through the doors—Tira and the Ol called 3-19. The Guards fell abruptly silent.

‘You are to go with the cage, 3-19,’ Tira said crisply. ‘I will follow with the Project.’

‘There is only one prisoner,’ 3-19 objected. ‘He can walk in chains. The cage is not necessary.’

Tira’s eyes narrowed. ‘It is not for you to say what is necessary,’ she said in a low, dangerous voice. ‘This prisoner has been kept especially for this moment. We cannot risk escape. He is not to be harmed, so watch the Guards carefully.’

3-19 nodded, his thin face sour.

‘We Baks do not need an Ol to tell us what to do,’ mumbled one of the Guards.

‘Silence!’ Tira shouted. She spun around and returned to the red-lit room where another pod of Guards stood, five on each side of the metal box.

3-19 cleared his throat. ‘You heard!’ he said to the Baks. ‘Take your positions!’

As the Baks sulkily spaced themselves around the cage, he strode past them and threw open the second set of doors. Faint light flooded into the room, bringing with it the foul smell of the mounds.

Lief lay rigid, fearing that at any moment they would be seen, but there was no cry of alert. The Guards were staring resentfully at 3-19, whose eyes were fixed on the way ahead

‘Forward!’ shouted Tira from the other room.

‘Move!’ 3-19 muttered to the Baks.

‘We must pull down the covers first,’ one growled.

With a sickening thud, Lief realised that the pieces of cloth beneath which he and his companions were hiding were flaps designed to be pulled down over the sides of the cage.

‘There is no need for the covers, you fool!’ snapped 3-19. ‘It is night! The prisoners will see nothing.’

‘A travelling cage must be covered,’ the Guard said stubbornly. ‘Those are the orders. We Baks always…’

‘You Baks are overdue for the scrap heap, and the sooner you are there the better!’ spat 3-19 in fury. ‘Move!’

Muttering darkly, the six Baks put their shoulders to the cage and heaved it into the foul-smelling night. Behind them rumbled the great metal box.

Pi-Ban lay dazed and mumbling. Lief, Barda, Jasmine and Emlis were clinging desperately to the lurching cage roof. Each of the Shadow Lord servants was occupied with his or her own thoughts of resentment or triumph.

And so it was that no-one saw three shadows creep from the shelter of the mounds and follow.