Emily Rodda - Deltora Quest #3 - City of the Rats

“Perhaps we do,” said Lief bitterly. “But at least our only crime is foolishness. You, however, are a liar. You pretend to be on the side of those who would resist the Shadow Lord, and all the time you help to feed his servants. You deal with Grey Guards as friends.”

Tom straightened, a clump of sweet grass in his hand, and turned to look at the sign that rose so proudly upon his roof.

“Have you not noticed, my friend?” he said. “Tom’s name looks the same, whichever side you are on. It is the same whether you approach from the west or the east. It is the same whether you are inside his shop, or outside it, whether you see it in a mirror, or with your own eyes. And Tom himself is like his name. It is a matter of business.”

“Business?” spat Lief.

“Certainly. I am the same Tom to all. I do not take sides. I do not interest myself in things that are not my affair. This is wise, in these hard times. And there is far more money in it.”

He smiled, the edges of his wide mouth curving up, creasing his thin face. “Now, I suggest you make haste to leave this place. I will keep my good friends the Ra-Kacharz here for as long as I can, to give you a good start. Take off those glaring red garments first, but do not leave them here, I beg you. I want no trouble.”

He turned away and began strolling back towards the carts.

“You are a deceiver!” Lief hissed after him.

Tom paused. “Perhaps,” he drawled, without looking back. “But I am a live, rich one. And because of me, you live to fight another day.”

He walked on, holding out the grass and clicking his tongue to the horses.

The three friends began pulling off the red garments and boots, and stuffing them into their packs. Lief was simmering with rage. Jasmine glanced at him curiously.

“Tom helped us,” she pointed out. “Why should you ask any more of him? Many creatures believe in nothing but themselves. He is one of those.”

“Tom is not a creature, but a man,” Lief snapped. “He should know what is right!”

“Are you so sure you know?” Jasmine answered sharply.

Lief stared at her. “What do you mean by that?” he demanded.

“Do not argue,” said Barda wearily. “Save your strength for walking. It is a long way to Broad River.” He fastened his pack, slung it over his shoulder, and tramped off through the trees.

“We must go back to Noradz first,” said Lief, hurrying after him. “We must tell the people that they are being lied to!”

“Indeed?” said Barda wearily. “And if we survived long enough to tell them, which we probably would not, and if they believed us, which I do not think they would, and if by some miracle they broke the pattern of centuries, rebelled against the Ra-Kacharz, and refused to send their food away any longer … what do you think would happen?”

“The Shadow Lord’s food supply would dry up,” said Lief promptly.

“Yes. And then the Shadow Lord would bring down his wrath on Noradz, make the people do his will by force instead of by trickery, and begin scouring the country for us,” said Barda bluntly. “Nothing would be gained, and much would be lost. It would be a disaster.”

He lengthened his stride, and moved ahead.

Lief and Jasmine went after him, but they did not speak for a long time after that. Lief was too angry, and Jasmine’s mind was busy with thoughts she did not wish to share.

Four days of hard marching followed — four long days in which Lief, Barda, and Jasmine spoke little and then only of moving on and keeping out of sight of any possible enemy. But when, at last, in the afternoon of the fourth day, they stood on the banks of Broad River, they realized that they should have planned their next step more carefully.

The river was deep, and its name described it well. It was so wide that they could only faintly see the land on the other side. The great sheet of water stretched in front of them like a sea. There was no way across.

Bleached white, and hard as stone, the ancient remains of wooden rafts lay half-buried in the sand. Perhaps, long ago, people had crossed the river here, and abandoned the rafts where they came to rest. But there were no trees on this side to provide wood for rafts — only banks of reeds.

Jasmine’s eyes narrowed as she peered across the dull sheen of the water. “The land on the other side is very flat,” she said slowly. “It is a plain. And I see a dark shape rising from it. If that is the City of the Rats, it is straight ahead of us. All we have to do is —”

“Cross the river,” said Lief heavily. He threw himself down on the fine, white sand and began rummaging in his pack, looking for something to eat.

He pulled out the collection of things they had bought from Tom and tipped them onto the ground in a small heap. He had almost forgotten about them, and now he stared at them with distaste.

They had seemed so exciting in the shop. Now they looked like rubbishy novelties. The beads that made fire. The “No Bakes” bread. The powder labelled “Pure and Clear.” The little pipe that was supposed to blow bubbles of light. And a small, flat tin box with a faded label …

Of course. Tom’s free gift. Something completely useless, no doubt, that he could not dispose of any other way. Lief sneered to himself as he turned the tin over.

“It is too far for us to swim. We will have to follow the river until we find a village where there are boats,” Barda was saying. “It is a pity to have to go out of our way, but we have no choice.”

“Perhaps we do,” Lief said slowly.

Jasmine and Barda looked at him in surprise. He held up the box and read aloud the words on the back.

“Are you saying that whatever is in this little tin box can dry up a river?” jeered Jasmine.

Lief shrugged. “I am saying nothing. I am simply reading the instructions.”

“There are more warnings than instructions,” said Barda. “But we shall see.”

They walked together to the river’s edge and Lief pried the lid off the tin box. Inside were some tiny crystals, each not much larger than a grain of sand. Feeling rather foolish, he pinched out a few of the crystals and tossed them into the water. They sank immediately without changing appearance in any way.

And nothing else happened.

Lief waited for a moment, then, fighting his disappointment, he tried to grin. “I should have known better,” he shrugged. “As if that Tom would give away anything that actually —”

Then he shouted and jumped back. A huge, colorless, wobbling lump was rising from the river. Beside it was another — and another!

“It is the crystals!” shouted Barda in excitement. “They are sucking up the water!”

So they were. As they grew, spreading as Lief watched, they joined together to make a towering, wobbling wall that held back the river. And the water between them simply dried up, leaving a narrow, winding path of puddled, sandy mud.

Kree squawked in amazement as Jasmine, Lief, and Barda stepped carefully onto the riverbed, squeezing between the jellied lumps and walking on until they came to the end of the dry patch. Then Lief threw another pinch of crystals into the water ahead, and, after a moment, more lumps broke the surface of the river and another path began to clear for them.