Braver

by Suzanne Selfors

  Lola didn’t ask where they were going. She didn’t need more questions and answers. Her Uncle Tobias had turned against his own kind and she knew this in her shattered heart. But there was no time to ponder why. She did not want to end up in Overseer Rake’s paws. She heaved herself onto the sill, then poked her head out the window. Snarl was already waiting at the bottom of the ladder. He motioned for her to hurry. The pounding continued. The dresser wobbled and the bed moved back a few inches. Soon, the overseer would be inside. Lola wasn’t sure how to negotiate a ladder. But because her life was in danger, she had no choice but to learn the skill on the spot. She pushed her back legs out first, flailing around until they found the top rung. Slowly but steadily she began her descent. Each step was a careful maneuver, but once she began to dig her claws into the wood, she stopped slipping.

  “Hurry!” Snarl called. The ladder tilted to one side, then the other. When she was halfway down she heard a cry of triumph from above and the scrabbling of paws on carpet. A head leaned out the window, growling down at her.

  “You shall not escape me!” Overseer Rake cried. “Ow!” A stone bounced off the overseer’s snout, followed by a second striking her forehead. Snarl had excellent aim, but the overseer was still standing.

  Ignoring the last rungs, Lola jumped and landed next to Snarl, who pushed the ladder until it toppled. The overseer screeched, then pointed down at Snarl. Such was her anger that she could barely move her jaw to form words. “You will regret your actions, traitor!” Then she ducked back into the room. “To the courtyard!”

  “Where do we go now?” Lola asked, her eyes wide with fear.

  “Trust me,” he said.

  Only a few hours had passed since the street sweepers had gone to bed, but already a thin speckling of soot coated the cobblestones. The moon streamed through the smog in scattered beams, streaking the night like pillars of captured starlight. Lola and Snarl galloped from the courtyard. The side streets twisted around on themselves, letting the pair escape view in moments. Turning down a narrow alley, they reached a stone hut with a sign: WAGON REPAIR. The night suddenly grew brighter in their wake with the arrival of torches and the sound of marching paws. “Hide,” Snarl whispered, pulling Lola behind a wagon. The lights passed by. Lola peeked out just in time to see several long bald tails turn the corner and vanish.

  “Royal Guard patrol,” Snarl explained. “They are supposed to keep factory workers from leaving the city.” Snarl reached out and pressed his paw against one of the hut’s stones. A door opened inward. He stepped inside. Lola followed. The stone door closed.

  Never in her wildest dreams or dreariest nightmares had Lola ever imagined that she’d trust her safety to a night monster. Yet here she was, standing with a feared predator, in utter darkness.

  “What is this place?” she asked.

  “It will take us under the palace.”

  A light sputtered into existence as Snarl struck a match. The flame was so close, Lola jumped back, hitting the wall. Snarl stuck the match into a lantern. Turning a small knob on the side of the square lantern, three of the sides closed up entirely and the last condensed into a small pinhole emitting only a narrow beam of light. This done, he knelt on the floor and pulled open a hidden trapdoor. “Stay close to me. It is quite the labyrinth down there.”

  Lola looked into the darkness below. An ancient stone staircase descended steeply, curving like a corkscrew and preventing her from getting a good view of what lay ahead. A few insects shuttled along the walls and ceiling. Once they were both on the stairs, Snarl reached back and closed the trapdoor. Lola took a deep breath, then began to follow Snarl.

  “It stinks down here, worse than a swamp rat’s meal,” Snarl warned her. The damp air of the passageway was permeated by a lingering earthly decay, a scent that didn’t bother Lola. In the small beam of Snarl’s pinhole lantern, Lola caught glimpses of white fungus coating the walls. When they reached the bottom of the stairway, the passage opened up before them. Lola’s feet squelched through stagnant water. A shiver darted up her spine when she felt something scuttle past. But with a few more steps the water disappeared and light greeted them.

  “We are beneath the palace,” Snarl said. It took a moment for Lola’s eyes to adjust, and even longer for her to understand what she saw before her.

  They stood in a vast, multidomed chamber with evenly spaced stone pillars that reached from floor to ceiling. Sconces held candles, their glow filling the space with flickering light. In the center of the chamber, a large group of critters had gathered—mostly mice, quolls, and echidnas. Many of those assembled wore grimy aprons and carried mops and brooms. Others were dressed as butlers and maids. They were milling about, chatting with one another. No one seemed shocked to see Snarl. A few tipped their caps to him. He bowed in return.

  “Who are these critters?” Lola asked.

  “They are members of the Resistance,” he told her.

  “The what?”

  “The Resistance. I am also a member, as is your mother, Alice. We are dedicated to the preservation of peaceful cohabitation on Tassie Island and will resist anyone who tries to defy the Treaty of Mount Ossa.”

  Lola’s jaw dropped. “My mum belonged to a resistance movement? But that can’t be. My mum is a shy wombat. She likes to nap and forage and carve. And the only time she ever left the burrows was to go to the trading post to trade our bowls and spoons.”

  “Your mother may not have traveled to Dore, but she was in communication with her brother.”

  “She was?” When and how did this happen? Lola wondered. Did her mother sneak out of the burrow to send messages while Lola and her father were sleeping?

  “Lola!”

  Lola turned toward the voice and blinked in surprise. A gray rat pushed through the gathered critters and hurried toward her, accompanied by a ball of fluff. “Lola!” Blue cried, waddling as fast as he could until he was hugging her leg.

  “I’m glad you’re safe.” Melvin also hugged her, his arms barely reaching around her shoulders.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked in surprise. “You’re supposed to be at your new salon, and Blue is supposed to be on a royal ship, sailing back to Penguin Bay.” Melvin looked disheveled, as if he’d been tossed around, again, in a hot-air balloon. Then she noticed a thin line around Melvin’s wrist where the fur had been worn off. She cupped his paw in both of hers so she could get a better look. “What happened?”

  “Bad!” Blue squawked.

  “Yes, bad,” Melvin agreed, glancing sadly at Blue. “As soon as we left the palace we were handcuffed and taken to the tower and put into a jail cell. Fortunately, Snarl was able to sneak past the guards. He’s surprisingly good at picking locks.”

  “I distracted the tower rats with putrid cheese rinds,” Snarl explained.

  Lola wanted to believe that Overseer Rake had put her friends in jail. But she knew who was in charge of the palace. “My uncle Tobias did this.” That statement nearly weighed her down with sadness. The last of her excuses washed away, Lola finally fully accepted how far her uncle had fallen.

  “I’m afraid so,” Snarl told her. “He never intended to help your friends. And the only help he might have given you was a stay in the dungeon, until you saw his way.”

  The entire chamber suddenly grew quiet and all the critters turned toward the center. A mouse had climbed onto a stool and stood on her hind legs so that everyone could see her. A tiny dust broom stuck out of her apron’s pocket. “Welcome, everyone. I wanted to let you know that the recruitment is going well, it is. We’ve gained over three score more brothers and sisters this past month, and we’ll need every one of them if this is to have a chance of working. Long live the queen!” She paused as the audience whooped and cheered, the sounds echoing off the walls.

  The mouse continued. “Unfortunately, we are still missing the most important piece. The queen herself.” The critters nodded solemnly. “She’s been missing for over two months, she has, and we
fear that time is running out. If factory production continues, the train tracks will soon reach all the way to Mount Ossa.”

  Frightened voices joined together, murmuring and fretting. A few of the echidnas rolled into quivering balls. Lola turned to Snarl. “A train to Mount Ossa?” she whispered.

  “That is the deal Tobias made with the overseer and her followers. If they support him as grand governor, then he will make sure they have a train to the mountain.”

  “Why does the overseer want a train to go to Mount Ossa?”

  “What the overseer wants is to control the island so she can control its laws. What she wants more than anything else is to bring back hunting.”

  Both Lola and Melvin shuddered. It was a terrible thing to imagine.

  “But why is Tobias working with her? What does he get in return?” Melvin asked.

  “Gold. The mountain is full of it,” Snarl replied.

  All of this chaos and fear and tragedy for gold? This made no sense to Lola.

  A quoll stood and raised his paws, quieting the crowd. “As many of you know, we have stationed resistance fighters along the Mount Ossa line to cut the tracks behind the railway workers and destroy the supporting wooden struts. But we need more help. We need more critters to join the cause, and I fear that will not happen without Queen Myra. We must find her.”

  “Long live the queen!” everyone shouted.

  Lola flinched, fearing the echoes might collapse the cavern with their voracity. Fortunately, the structure remained intact, with only a few motes of dust descending loftily from the ceiling.

  The mouse, who was still standing atop the stool, clapped her paws for attention. “Everyone, everyone, I hear our leader’s footsteps. Please quiet down.”

  Voices hushed again. Lola pricked her ears. Sure enough, steps approached—not the scurrying of a mouse, but the soft padding of much larger paws.

  A door opened from one of the chamber walls and a wombat emerged. At first Lola gasped, worried that Tobias had found her. But then she realized this was not Tobias. The wombat’s gaze fell immediately upon her.

  “Hello, Lola,” he said. “I am your uncle Teddy.”

  24

  T.B. IS READY

  Teddy Bottom was definitely Tobias’s twin in size and shape, coloring, and even the long chin hairs. But unlike his twin, Teddy wasn’t dressed in a fancy way, but with a simple cap on his head. He hadn’t adorned himself with gold. And he didn’t strut the way Tobias had. He walked humbly, his head lowered.

  Snarl placed his paws together and bowed. “I retrieved Lola from the clutches of your brother, as you requested.”

  “Thank you,” Teddy said. “You have, once again, proven to be a loyal friend.” He returned his gaze to Lola. “I understand you got a message.” His voice remained soft and gentle. “A message about me.”

  Lola found herself at a sudden loss for words. Her uncle. Her other uncle. “T.B. is ready” stood for Teddy Bottom, not Tobias Bottom. She’d forgotten all about Teddy. He was the shy brother who’d sought peace and quiet by working beneath the palace. At least that’s what Tobias had written in his letter. Lola realized that her assumptions had been totally wrong.

  “Wait a minute.” Melvin furrowed his brow and gave her a deadpan stare. “You have a second uncle, with the same initials as the other? And that didn’t seem important to mention?” Lola sheepishly turned her head away.

  “And who might you be?” Teddy politely asked.

  “I’m Melvin, Lola’s friend. And this is Blue, a penguin we’ve been babysitting.” Blue stuck his tongue out the side of his beak and blew a raspberry at Melvin. “I mean … penguin-sitting.”

  “I see. It is nice to meet each of you.” Then Teddy rubbed his face wearily. “Please forgive me. You’ve come at a critical point in our operation and there’s not much time to get acquainted.” He sighed, as if he could feel the weight of the stone walls pressing down upon him.

  “Am I to understand that you are the leader of the Resistance?” Melvin asked.

  “Guilty as charged.” He paused. “Though if things go well, I hope to never be charged, nor found guilty for that matter.”

  Lola wanted to shrink with shame. She’d judged her uncle without knowing him. She’d been influenced by the way Tobias had described him in the letters. Lesser aspirations. A lowly mop-pusher.

  Lola had been wrong about trusting one uncle. Could she trust the other? “Uncle Teddy?” she said finally, her voice so quiet he had to lean forward. “Do you still sleep in a burrow?”

  “Of course I do. And I still display my droppings. We must keep our traditions, especially in times such as these.” He winked at her. And there it was, the thing that had been lacking in Tobias’s eyes. A twinkle. But it faded. “I’m sorry you’ve come to Dore at such a dire time. I’m sure it’s different than you imagined it would be.”

  “It’s nothing like the stories in my book.”

  “The Tales of Tassie Island?”

  “Yes,” Lola said. “That’s my favorite book.”

  “Mine too,” Teddy said.

  Lola’s heart nearly burst with happiness. Here was the uncle she was meant to find. Here was the uncle she could trust. The uncle whose eyes twinkled just like her mother’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know you sent the message. I thought—”

  “You thought you could trust your powerful uncle because he is your blood relative. But blood, unlike a river, does not always flow in the same direction.” The twinkle faded, replaced by a sad smile. “You have many questions, I know. Snarl is better at explaining.” He lowered his eyes and stepped back, and Snarl stepped forward. The other critters had gathered around, their little faces turned up as Snarl spoke. He wasn’t a monster in their eyes. He was one of them. Blue, however, apparently bored by politics and rebellions, sat on the floor, leaned against Lola, and closed his eyes.

  “The foul plans of the rebel devils have been in the works for years now,” Snarl said. “Most of my kind live in peace and contentment. But long have we hoped to rejoin the island, to live again with other critters. And when our engineers designed the train, we saw it as a possible way to begin trading goods, and thus gain trust.

  “But the Overseer had other plans. She is one of the few who preach that the old bloodthirsty ways are better. And she found a partner inside the Tassie government—a wombat who is driven by greed and tempted by golden trinkets.”

  Lola swallowed hard. Everything seemed to come back to Tobias.

  Snarl continued. “We thought Queen Myra could control the uprising, but it took most of us far too long to notice Tobias Bottom’s involvement. After the queen disappeared, Tobias issued a proclamation that the queen had promoted him to grand governor. This was a lie. He promoted himself. Then he declared that all critters in Dore would have to work in the factory, except for those who kept the palace clean, inside and out. Thus, all the shops closed and the shopkeepers were sent to the factory. Tobias declared that no one was allowed to enter or depart the city gates without permission. Then, to increase production, he offered a reward for the capture of the best diggers on the island—the wombats. More coal means faster production of the train tracks.”

  “Why would Uncle Tobias do this?” Lola asked, her eyes stinging with tears. “Why would he hurt his family? Doesn’t he love us? Doesn’t he love his sister?” Everyone looked at Teddy.

  Teddy took a moment, folding his paws behind his back, then spoke. “When the three of us were joeys, Tobias and your mum were very close. They did everything together. Alice wanted to come to Dore with us, for she also wanted to seek her fortune, but your grandmother was ill at the time and Alice stayed at the burrow to care for her. I left because our mother begged me to keep an eye on Tobias. He’d always been unpredictable and prone to getting into trouble. Soon after we arrived in Dore, Tobias introduced himself to the queen. She was smitten by his charm and gave him a prominent position in the government as ambassador. And he quickly disc
overed the things that power could buy—delicious foods, a stately manor, golden rings.” He paused again. Lola could tell that it took great effort for Teddy to tell this story. Maybe it was his shyness. Or maybe it was the heartbreak he must have felt, knowing his brother was a traitor. “Power corrupts, dear niece, and greed is all that remains of the Tobias I once knew.”

  “And so you formed this resistance?” Lola asked.

  “We needed to find the queen. We still do.” The mass of critters nodded in agreement.

  Melvin folded his arms and looked apprehensive. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but when you find the queen, how will you stand against Overseer Rake and her followers? And what about the Royal Guard? Rats are fiercely loyal to those who feed them. You have no weapons, no armor.” Lola had been wondering the same thing. The little apron-wearing mice with their buckets and mops, and the trembling echidnas with their feather dusters, looked about as fierce as an army of baby penguins.

  “That was why I sent for your mother,” Teddy said. “We were hoping she might gain Tobias’s trust and help find out where he has hidden the queen.”

  The question was finally answered! Lola nodded with understanding. If Bale Blackwater had gotten the message to Alice weeks ago, as Teddy had intended, then Alice could have saved the queen. And the queen would have stopped Tobias and Overseer Rake.

  “Do you have any idea where she might be?” Lola asked.

  “The queen’s size has proved problematic,” Snarl said. “Being a pygmy possum, the smallest mammal in our kingdom, she can easily be slipped under a hat or swept into a dustbin. She could be in countless places where other critters can’t fit. It makes the search very difficult, especially because Tobias can move her so easily from location to location.”

  “Baby!” Blue cried, his eyes popping open.

  Melvin sighed. “Blue, please be quiet.”