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

Jasmine shrugged. She had taken vegetables from one of the sticks, and was holding them up to her shoulder, trying to coax Filli out to eat. “We should leave here as soon as we are able,” she said. “These people are very strange. Who knows what other odd laws — ah, Filli, there you are!”

Tempted by the smell of the tidbits, the little creature had at last ventured to poke his nose from under the collar of Jasmine’s jacket. Cautiously he crawled out onto her shoulder, took a piece of golden vegetable in his tiny paws, and began to nibble at it.

There was a sudden, strangled sound from the high table. Lief glanced up and was startled to see all the Ra-Kacharz pointing at Jasmine, their faces masks of horror.

The other people in the room turned to look. There was a moment’s shocked silence. Then, suddenly, shrieking with terror, they stampeded for the doors.

“Evil!” Reece’s voice thundered from the platform. “The unclean ones have brought evil to our halls. They try to destroy us! See! The creature crawls there, on her body! Kill it! Kill it!”

As one, the Nine Ra-Kacharz ran from the platform and plunged towards Jasmine, using their whips freely to slice their way through the panic-stricken crowd.

“It is Filli!” gasped Barda. “They are afraid of Filli.”

“Kill it!” howled the Ra-Kacharz. They were very close now.

Barda, Lief, and Jasmine looked around desperately. There was nowhere to run. A press of people struggled at every door, trying to get through.

“Run, Filli!” Jasmine cried in fear. “Run! Hide!”

She threw Filli to the floor and he darted away. The people screamed at the sight of him, stumbling back, falling and trampling one another in their terror. He scampered through the gap in the crowd and was gone.

But Lief, Barda, and Jasmine were trapped. And the Ra-Kacharz were upon them.

The great logs in the meeting hall fireplace had been lit, and the blaze threw a ghastly red light over the faces of the prisoners.

For hours they had stood there, while a useless search was made for Filli. The Ra-Kacharz guarded them grimly, their eyes growing darker and more stern as the minutes ticked by.

Exhausted and silent, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine awaited their fate. They had learned by now that it was useless to argue, rage, or plead. In bringing a furred animal into Noradz they had committed the most hideous of crimes.

Finally, Reece spoke.

“We can wait no longer. The trial must begin.”

A gong sounded, and black-clad people began to file into the hall. They arranged themselves in rows, facing the prisoners. Lief saw that Tira, the serving girl he had saved from punishment, was in the first row, very near to him. He tried to meet her eyes, but she looked quickly at the ground.

Reece raised his voice so all could hear.

“Because of these unclean ones, evil is abroad in Noradz. They have broken our most sacred law. They claim it was done out of ignorance. I think they lie, and deserve death. Others of the Nine believe them, and think imprisonment should be their fate. Therefore, it will be left to the sacred Cup to decide.”

Barda, Jasmine, and Lief stole glances at one another. What new madness was this?

Reece took from the shelf above the fireplace a shining silver goblet — once used for drinking wine, perhaps.

“The Cup reveals the truth,” he droned. “Noradzeer.”

“Noradzeer,” murmured the watching people.

Next, Reece showed two small cards. Each card had one word printed upon it.

He turned to the prisoners. “One among you will draw a card from the Cup,” he said, his dark eyes gleaming. “Who will be that person?”

The companions hesitated. Then Lief stepped forward. “I will,” he said reluctantly.

Reece nodded. “Face the front,” he said briefly.

Lief did as he was told. Reece turned away from him, and from his fellow Ra-Kacharz. He put his gloved hand over the Cup.

Lief saw that Tira was watching Reece with close attention. Suddenly, her blue eyes widened with astonishment and horror. She glanced quickly at Lief, and her lips moved soundlessly.

Lief’s face began to burn as he made out the mouthed words.

Both cards say “Death.”

Tira must have seen Reece replace the “Life” card with a second “Death” card hidden in his sleeve or his glove. Reece was determined that the strangers would die.

The tall red figure turned back to him, the Cup held high. “Choose!” Reece sneered.

Lief did not know what to do. If he cried out that the Cup held only two “Death” cards, no one would believe him. Everyone would think that he was simply afraid to face the trial. No one would take his word, or Tira’s, against the word of the First Ra-Kachar of Noradz. And Reece could easily change the cards around again if challenged.

Lief slipped his fingers under his shirt and gripped the topaz fixed to the Belt. It had helped him find answers before. Could it help him now? The fire roared behind him, lighting the tall figure in front of him with an eerie glow. The silver cup shone red like solid flame.

Flame. Fire …

His heart thudding, Lief stretched up his hand, dipped his fingers into the Cup, and chose a card. Then, like lightning, he whirled, seemed to stumble backwards, and dropped the card into the roaring flames. It flared for a moment, and was consumed.

“I beg pardon for my clumsiness,” cried Lief, over the horrified gasps of the crowd. “But you can easily tell which card I drew. Simply look at the one remaining in the Cup.”

Reece stood perfectly still, seething with baffled rage, as one of the other Ra-Kacharz took the Cup from his hand and plucked out the card that still lay within it. She held it up.

“The card that remains is ‘Death,’” she droned. “The prisoner drew the ‘Life’ card. The Cup has spoken.”

Lief felt Barda’s hand grip his shoulder. Weak at the knees, he turned to face his friends. Their eyes were relieved, but full of questions. They suspected that he had burned the card on purpose, and wondered why.

“Take them to the dungeons,” Reece thundered. “There they will live out their lives, repenting of the evil they have done.”

The eight other Ra-Kacharz surrounded Lief, Barda, and Jasmine and began marching them from the hall. The whispering crowd parted to let them through. Lief twisted his head, looking for Tira among the black-clad figures, but could not see her.

As they left the hall, they heard Reece’s voice raised once more as he spoke to the people. “Continue the search for the creature who has befouled our city,” he ordered. “It must be found and killed before nightfall.”

Lief glanced at Jasmine. She did not open her lips, but her face was pale and set. He knew that she was thinking of Filli — hunted and afraid.

The Ra-Kacharz pushed their prisoners through a maze of brightly lit hallways and down some winding stone steps. The smell of soap hung everywhere, and the stones under their feet were scrubbed smooth.

At the bottom of the steps was a large space lined with metal doors, each with a narrow flap through which a tray of food could be passed. The leading Ra-Kachar threw one of the doors open, and her companions pulled Lief, Barda, and Jasmine towards it.

Jasmine took one look at the grim, windowless cell beyond the door and began to struggle wildly. Lief and Barda, too, fought grimly for their freedom. But it was no use. They had no weapons, no protection against the whips of the Ra-Kacharz, cracking around their faces, stinging their legs and arms. They were driven back into the cell. Then the door was slammed behind them and a heavy bolt was driven home.