The Tunnels of Ferdinand
Page 10
The Rats had barely had time to stretch or turn to a friend for a comforting word when a boy named Ruben brought the news they had been dreading. ‘They’re coming. The Gadges are in the tunnels,’ he gasped.
‘Where? How many?’ These blunt questions came from Dorian. She was a little older than the others, though not so old she couldn’t fit inside the narrower tunnels. Her firm, commanding voice helped to calm their fears.
‘All over. I don’t know how many. They’ve come from different directions, I’m sure of that,’ Ruben answered solemnly. He didn’t like being the messenger who had brought such terrible news. ‘Maybe they still don’t realise we live down here,’ he pleaded. ‘Maybe they think Berrin and the others were using the pipes to escape this morning. Escape to somewhere else. They could be just waiting for them to come out.’
Only hours before, Berrin had made a fateful decision. Surrounded by Gadges who were ready to kill them, he had led his companions into the safety of the tunnels below ground. But in doing so, he had let the Gadges see them enter the storm-water drains. Their precious secret had been revealed.
‘Don’t fool yourself,’ said a deeper voice they all recognised. ‘They know we are down here.’ This was Wendell, who had saved Berrin’s life and brought him into the tunnels to become a Rat. Judging from the way he was looking at Berrin at that moment, he seemed to regret it.
Berrin’s stomach churned miserably. He sensed a movement near his feet and found Jasper waiting to be picked up. Brown from head to toe, except for an odd tuft of white fur on his forehead, Jasper was a real rat. ‘At least you won’t give me a hard time,’ he whispered to the rodent as he settled him gently on his shoulder.
‘Wendell is right,’ said Dorian. ‘They know. Our days of hiding are over. We’ll have to fight for these tunnels now.’ She thought for a little longer. ‘Most of all, we have to keep them away from here.’
No-one argued with her. The tunnels close by had become their base within the maze of so many pipes that drained the city above them. Electrical wires had been run down from the surface to give them light and to recharge their batteries. Each of the Rats had a comfortable hammock for sleeping above the dirt and worse, the water that often flowed through the pipes. Their weapons were kept here and the little food they been able to store away. But more important than any of these reasons, one thought taunted them all. They had to keep the Gadges away from their leader, Ferdinand, who couldn’t move about the tunnels like the rest of them.
‘I’ll stop them coming too close,’ said Wendell.
‘Me too,’ Berrin volunteered just as quickly. He had a special reason for protecting their leader that none of the others shared. Ferdinand was his uncle.
‘If you try to fight them hand-to-hand, they’ll kill you,’ said Dorian, as though she were talking about what to eat for dinner. ‘We have to be clever about this. We know these tunnels and they don’t. We can use our advantage to lure them away instead.’
Berrin was way ahead of her. He was already planning a strategy in his head. ‘I’ll need a Dodgem,’ he announced.
‘Take whatever you need.’
‘You’ll need me,’ said a girl. Berrin turned to see his friend Olanda step forward eagerly. Finely braided hair escaped from beneath her helmet and danced about her shoulders as she stretched and limbered up. Olanda was always ready, whether it was for a fight or an argument. Anything rather than stand still and be quiet.
Across the chamber, another Rat prepared to join them. It was Quinn, the worst Dodgem driver in the tunnels but the best shot with a crossbow. ‘I’m with you, Wendell,’ he called.
Two brave teams. Two Dodgems. Seconds later, they were on the move.
Dodgems were an ingenious creation of Ferdinand himself. With a steel frame and small black wheels powered by a heavy, rechargeable battery, they could scoot along the tunnels at a dazzling speed.
Quinn and Wendell had theirs moving before the others and so they took the lead. Wendell was too big for the seat, but this was no time to remind him. Crammed into the tight space, the driving was left to Quinn.
Wendell soon regretted this. Berrin and Olanda could see him swaying precariously in the seat behind his partner. ‘I’d rather fight a Gadge than let Quinn drive me around in these tunnels,’ Olanda called to Berrin.
After ten minutes of reckless cornering at break-neck speed, Quinn came to a halt. ‘How far in do you think the Gadges have come?’
‘Don’t know,’ Wendell grunted. ‘Best thing is to wait here until they reach us.’
Berrin and Olanda had quickly joined them. ‘Rig the Dodgems to run the other way then kill the light. We don’t want to give them any warning.’
Moments later, Berrin gasped. There was no darkness like the pitch-black that enveloped them when the lamps were turned off. ‘Where will we lead them?’ he asked the companions he could no longer see.
‘Anywhere, so long as it’s away from Ferdinand,’ Wendell answered. He slid the sword from the scabbard tied to his back and felt the edge. ‘Needs sharpening,’ he commented.
They waited. There would be a light first, they guessed. That would be the signal. Once the Gadges had picked them up with their torches, the chase would be on. None of the Rats knew quite what to expect.
The minutes passed. ‘Berrin,’ Olanda called softly, for even she had learned to keep her voice down in these tunnels. ‘Do you think Ferdinand is right? Will it soon be Doomsday for Malig Tumora?’
‘You’ve forgotten how he said it,’ Berrin told her with a grim smile. ‘It could easily be the end for us, instead.’
His mind went back to the meeting that had finished not long ago. Ferdinand was a grown-up, the only one in the city whom Malig Tumora did not control. His lanky body was frail and his skin so white Berrin had thought he was a ghost at first. In a way he was, because his body was already trapped underground.
‘We have to break Malig Tumora’s control over the other adults before he destroys us. At least we know what to do now,’ he whispered.
‘The glass houses,’ said Olanda.
Berrin himself had discovered them. Huge buildings made of glass. Inside he had found row upon row of purple flowers, as far as he could see. The fragrance of those flowers was a sweet trap. It left a human being helpless, with no will of his own. That was how Malig Tumora controlled the grown-ups.
‘Yes, the glass houses,’ he replied. ‘That’s what we have to do now. Destroy them and free the grown-ups.’
Was that a noise? A footstep perhaps, the crush of gravel under a cruel paw. But sound could travel a long way in the tunnels. They must keep their nerve.
There, a second noise, the rhythm of breathing this time. Still there was no glow against the tunnel walls. They had to wait for the torchlight.
When the sound grew even louder, Berrin acted. It wasn’t because fear had got the better of him. They were all afraid. No, in that instant he had realised they might be making a simple but deadly mistake. They had assumed the Gadges would bring torches to see by.
He flicked on his helmet lamp. From only twenty metres away, three Gadges stared back at them. For a moment, the light from Berrin’s helmet was reflected in the perfect circles at the centre of their eyes.
Then they charged.
WATCH OUT FOR
The Doomsday Rats: Book Three
MALIG TUMORA
Available from September 2005
About the Author
James Moloney lives in Brisbane with his wife and three children. He has worked as an art union ticket seller, a gopher at a wholesale fruit market and a teacher.
These days he devotes most of his time to what he loves best – writing books for young people, two of which have won the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award: Swashbuckler in 1996 and A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove in 1997. His comic novel for young adults, Black Taxi, was shortlisted for the 2004 Adelaide Festival Children’s Literature Award and the 2004 Children’s Book Council Award for Olde
r Readers.
OTHER BOOKS BY JAMES MOLONEY
For Young Adults
Black Taxi
For Younger Readers
The Book of Lies
Copyright
Angus&Robertson
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in 2004
This edition published in 2013
by HarperCollinsPublishers Pty Limited
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A member of the HarperCollinsPublishers (Australia) Pty Limited Group
www.harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Buena Vista Books 2004
The right of James Moloney to be identified as the moral rights author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000 (Cth).
This book is copyright.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission.
Inquiries should be addressed to the publishers.
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Moloney, James, 1954 —
The tunnels of Ferdinand.
For children aged 9–13 years.
ISBN 0 207 19665 6. (pbk)
ISBN 978 0 7304 9134 7 (epub)
I. Title. (Series: Moloney, James, 1954 — Doomsday Rats series; bk.1).
A823.3
*Dfx is pronounced ‘Dee-fex’. The word is both singular and plural.