Chapter 15- No Time to Go Soft
“Don’t eat me,” squealed the monster, writhing in Slinker’s grip. “You don’t know where I’ve been.”
“Shut up,” said Slinker, his jaws hovering menacingly over the monster’s neck. “And tell me who you are.”
“Shut up and tell you who I am?” asked the monster. “Of course, no problem. And for my next trick, I’ll recite the complete works of William Shakespeare whilst gargling a pint of porridge.”
Bryony frowned. She recognised the monster’s shrill voice. And there was surely only one animal who could manage that level of sarcasm in times of danger.
“Stubby?”
Slinker drew back, and the monster lifted its head to stare at Bryony with a pair of black button eyes.
“Stubby, it is you!” Bryony couldn’t believe it. “But you’re supposed to be in the lair.”
Stubby continued to stare at her. “I don’t suppose the words ‘hello I’m pleased to see you’ might be entering the conversation any point soon?”
“How did you get out of the lair?” demanded Slinker, his single eye narrow with suspicion. “Did you have inside help?”
“No,” insisted Stubby. “I escaped purely through my own expertise and cunning.”
“He had inside help,” said Bryony.
“Very well,” sighed Stubby. “It was Moll who helped us. She drugged the guards and led the boy and I into a secret passage leading down to the Pit.”
Bryony was astonished to hear of Moll’s involvement, but Slinker didn’t seem to share her surprise.
“So what happened?” asked the weasel, maintaining his grip on Stubby. “Where’s Moll and the boy now?”
Stubby didn’t answer, but glanced nervously around.
“It’s OK.” Bryony guessed why Stubby was reluctant to talk. “We left the Ratello Mob some way back.” She explained quickly what happened at the ravine, although she didn’t divulge her suspicions about Slinker’s role in the ‘accident’.
Stubby, however, made no attempt to conceal his mistrust. “And you think you can rely on this weasel?” he asked, shooting a doubtful glance at Slinker.
Bryony didn’t, but she wasn’t going to let on. “Slinker isn’t one of the Ratello Mob,” she pointed out. “And without him we don’t stand a chance of finding the Key.”
“He’s still a convicted criminal,” maintained Stubby. “And he still has his foot on my stomach.”
At a nod from Bryony, Slinker lifted his foot from Stubby’s stomach, albeit with obvious reluctance. “So now are you going to tell us what happened to Moll and the boy?”
“In truth I don’t know,” answered Stubby, after getting up and dusting himself down. “We got split up. I heard Moll scream, and went to investigate. Then something attacked me. It came so fast I couldn’t see what it was. I managed to escape, and ran back to find the boy, but he’d disappeared. I went looking for him, but ended up getting lost in the tunnels.”
“We’ve got to find him,” said Bryony. “Do you think you could find your way back to where you last saw Edwin?”
“I doubt it,” sighed Stubby. “And even if I could, it would be extremely dangerous. That passage cut right through the territory of the Sisterhood.”
Slinker whistled. “Then the boy’s as good as luncheon meat.”
“What do you mean?” Bryony’s anxious gaze flickered between Slinker and Stubby. “Who are the Sisterhood?”
“They’re spiders,” explained Slinker. “But there’s little sisterly about them. The Sisterhood control one half of the island, the Ratello Mob the other. Things have always been tense between the Sisterhood and the Ratello Mob, but the situation has got much worse ever since Boss Ratbags disappeared.”
“The Ratello Mob blame the Sisterhood, right?” Bryony nodded, then frowned. “But surely the rats should be able to beat a few spiders?”
“These spiders have a poisonous bite,” said Slinker. “And the Sisterhood is great in number, and led by a notorious psychopathic serial killer: the Widow Splicefinger.”
Bryony wrinkled her nose. “The Widow Whatfinger?”
“Splicefinger,” said Stubby, his voice a horrified whisper. “The most twisted and insane criminal ever to scuttle down a drainpipe. At the height of her infamy she was wanted for murdering sixteen of her husbands.”
Bryony’s jaw dropped. “Sixteen?”
Stubby nodded. “The Widow Splicefinger has had more husbands than you’ve had hot dinners. In fact, she’s had more husbands for dinner than you’ve had hot dinners.”
Bryony’s amazement turned to horror. “She eats her husbands?”
Slinker smiled grimly. “It’s a spider thing.”
“And it saves on messy divorce proceedings,” added Stubby.
Bryony shuddered. “That’s gross. This whole place is gross. The sooner we get out of here the better.”
“Then we need to get moving,” suggested Slinker, heading off down the tunnel. “We’ve wasted enough time as it is.”
Bryony remained where she was. “But what about Edwin? We can’t leave him all alone down here.”
Stubby sighed, and scratched his left ear. “I might find your stepbrother as irritating as a pair of live earwig underpants, but I wouldn’t want anything nasty to befall him. However, I agree with the weasel on this one. Searching for the boy will prove fruitless, and put us at risk of being taken by the Sisterhood. Our best chance of saving Edwin is to find the Key.”
“But what if we’re too late to save him?” Bryony’s voice became a whimper, and her eyes began to water. “It will all be my fault. I shouldn’t have done a deal with the Ratello Mob and left him in the lair.”
“Congratulations,” said Stubby. “Your first pang of conscience. If I’d known it was due, I would have sent you a card.”
“It’s all my fault,” repeated Bryony, covering her face with her hands.
“This ain’t no time to go soft,” said Slinker, suddenly at Bryony’s side again. “I had you down for a tough cookie, not some lily livered little girl who blubs at the first hint of trouble. So a gang of poisonous spiders ate your stepbrother? Get over it. At least it wasn’t you.”
Bryony glared at Slinker through misty, tear filled eyes. “Don’t you care about anyone?”
“Sure,” replied Slinker. “There’s one very special person in my life, someone I’d do anything to protect, no matter what the cost. And that person is me.”
Bryony nodded. “You only want the Key for yourself. You’re using me, just as you used the Ratello Mob.”
Slinker bared his teeth, just for a split second. “Don’t you worry, kid. I ain’t going to eat you. Without you, the Key will be useless. But you need me just as much as I need you. Without me, you don’t stand a chance of reaching the Pit, of seeing the boy, your father, or anyone human again. So let’s not waste any more time, eh?”
Slinker hurried off down the tunnel. Realising she had no choice, Bryony followed. Stubby walked beside her, a concerned look in his black button eyes.
“I wouldn’t worry about the boy,” he whispered. “The Sisterhood might not eat him.”
“Why not?” Bryony wondered if Stubby knew something she didn’t.
“Spiders are carnivores,” explained Stubby. “They don’t like carrots.”
Wychetts and the Key to Magic Page 16