‘Yeah, and that someone is me,’ Horace insisted. ‘I spent half my primary school days in that place, remember?’
‘Shame on you, Horace!’ Mama Kolina exclaimed, clipping him over the back of the head. ‘And I thought you valued your education.’
‘I valued lunch time and recess,’ Horace muttered. ‘Doesn’t that count for something?’
Mama Kolina shook her head and then glared at Benny. ‘And I suppose you were his sidekick in these shenanigans.’
‘Nah, not mi, ma’am,’ Benny said, placing his hand over his heart. ‘I was da rescue party. Honest to goodness. I’ve lost track of how many times I dragged Horace out of dat place.’
‘Rotten pies to your rescue attempts,’ Horace spluttered. ‘I was only lost on three occasions and I would have found my way out again if you’d given me enough time.’
‘Time isn’t exactly on our side now, Horace,’ Ruby said, stopping to adjust the pile of umbrellas and weapons strung over her shoulder. ‘And we could do with another set of arms if we encounter an army of spade-wielding meerkats. I say if Benny can fight, he can come.’
‘Dat’s very gracious of yuh, Cinderella,’ Benny said, drawing level with her. ‘Y’ar as wise as yuh are beautiful.’
Ruby looked at him suspiciously, then thrust her entire stash of weapons into his arms. ‘Make yourself useful and carry these, banana boy. And if you call me Cinderella one more time, I’ll shove a pumpkin down your throat and a glass slipper up each nostril.’
‘Ouch,’ Benny winced. ‘Dat’s gotta hurt …’
Keeping their heads low, the disguised rats and their fairy-tale-obsessed companion followed Mama Kolina through the outskirts of town to her large family home. Overlooking the river, and positioned high above the village, the tribal chief’s dwelling consisted of several smaller wooden huts, joined internally.
While the three young rats exchanged their colourful dresses for more practical jungle attire, Mama Kolina copied down the directions to the central cave from a book in Papa Niko’s study. Free from his confines in the handbag, Smudge exercised his wings by buzzing up and down the veranda, keeping watch over the village below. Benny slouched on a sofa in the lounge room with his feet on the coffee table, eating a banana from the fruit bowl and perusing a trashy romance novel from the bookcase.
‘So, what do you think, Benny?’ Horace asked as the three rats emerged from separate bedrooms wearing green hooded tunics and leggings, courtesy of the village’s spring pantomime.
‘Y’ar certainly keeping with da fairy-tale theme,’ Benny chuckled, pointing to the longbow hooked over Ruby’s shoulder. ‘Robin Hood and his merry men never looked so stylish.’ He stood up and moved closer to Horace. ‘Though I’m not sure about dem fake eyelashes y’ar wearing, Horace – dey’re more suited for da role of Maid Marion.’
‘Putrid pastries!’ Horace exclaimed, tearing the eyelashes from his face. ‘I knew I’d forgotten to remove something.’
‘Ruby might be wise to remove her red eyepatch, too,’ Mama Kolina said, entering the room. ‘It’s the first thing any lookouts will spot as you approach the mine.’
‘And replace it with what?’ Ruby said stubbornly.
Benny took off his own black eyepatch and tossed it onto the coffee table.
‘Yuh can use mine, Princess,’ he said casually. ‘I only wear it for da tourists.’
‘Alright,’ Ruby said reluctantly, picking it up. ‘But it better not have fleas.’
She turned her head to the corner of the room and swapped the two eyepatches, stuffing her red eyepatch into a pocket. Letting out a sigh, she swivelled around to look at Whisker, her face bathed in afternoon sunlight.
‘Well?’ she said.
For a moment, Whisker thought he was seeing her for the very first time – black eyepatch, forest-green hood, emerald eye, ruby-red lips, and beauty that went beyond the bandit exterior.
All he could do was stare.
‘I knew it,’ she said awkwardly as he made no attempt to respond. ‘It doesn’t suit me, does it?’
‘N-n-no, of course it suits you,’ Whisker stammered, breaking from his daze. ‘It could be dirt-brown and covered in fleas and you’d still look just as beautiful.’
‘Thanks,’ she said, blushing slightly. ‘I think?’
Whisker opened his mouth to explain himself, but Ruby had already stepped though the veranda door and was hastily inspecting her quiver of arrows in the sunlight.
The embarrassed apprentice turned away, berating himself for sounding like the village idiot.
‘Dirt and fleas,’ he muttered. ‘Who says that kind of rubbish?’
‘Not mi, mon,’ Benny said, lowering his banana and grinning up at Whisker from the sofa. ‘But den, I’m no sewer-dwelling rat, am I?’
‘I guess not,’ Whisker sulked. ‘We sewer dwellers lack your fairy-tale charm.’
‘And we also lack the ability to see in the dark,’ Mama Kolina said, placing two small lanterns and a box of matches on the coffee table. ‘I trust you will find these useful for your expedition.’ She leaned closer to Whisker and added, ‘And I would not worry about fairy-tale charm, my dear. In my experience, the most powerful words are those spoken from the heart – though perhaps you should restrain from any reference to fleas in the future. No girl finds disease-carrying parasites remotely romantic.’
‘Yes, Mama,’ Whisker pledged, sneaking a glance in Ruby’s direction. ‘Fleas are out.’
Mama Kolina handed him a folded piece of notepaper. ‘Now back to your mission. Here are the directions to the central cave of the volcano where the furnace and mint are located. Are you familiar with Freeforian cave symbols?’
‘A little,’ Whisker said, slipping the paper into his drawstring bag.
‘Simply match the symbol with the carving above each passage and you will know which direction to take,’ Mama Kolina explained.
‘We’ll report back as soon as we can,’ Whisker said, picking up the lanterns and ushering his companions onto the veranda.
‘If I am not here when you return, you will find me in the village square with the tribal elders,’ Mama Kolina said. ‘It may be necessary to orchestrate a mass evacuation of the village if the pirates cannot be dissuaded from attacking.’
Horace nodded and gave her a departing hug.
‘Find Papa Niko,’ Mama Kolina said with moist eyes. ‘And come back safely.’
‘Yes, Mama,’ Horace said, kissing her on both cheeks. ‘If he’s in that volcano, we’ll find him. I promise.’
Underground
Whisker and his companions crouched silently in the bushes on the edge of the jungle path. In the fading light, they could just make out the gaping mouth of a lava cave, disappearing into the mountain. Surrounded by matted vines and large-leafed plants, its entrance was blocked by two massive iron gates, chained and padlocked shut.
‘No sign of meerkats,’ Horace whispered.
‘That doesn’t mean they’re not waiting for us,’ Ruby hissed, pointing towards the cave mouth. ‘There could be anything lurking in there.’
‘Like dragons,’ Horace suggested.
‘And cave trolls,’ Benny chimed in.
‘More like a crate of spades ready to drop on your thick skulls,’ Ruby muttered.
Smudge raised one tiny arm in the air and pointed a second at his chest as if to say why don’t I go and investigate?
‘Good idea, Smudge,’ Whisker said. ‘You’re small enough to squeeze through those bars. Tell us if you see anything.’
Smudge gave him a four-armed salute and flew off into the darkness.
‘So how do you propose we get inside?’ Ruby asked, surveying the scene through the spyglass. ‘The chain is far too thick to break with a scissor sword.’
‘And I’m still waiting on my replacement skeleton key attachment from Madam Pearl,’ Horace added, holding his slightly-bent hook in the air.
‘Den it looks like yuh’ll be needing a set of dese,’ Benny
said, rattling a collection of black metal charms dangling from a gold chain.
Whisker peered across at the chimp. At first glance, the charms appeared to be a worthless collection of bent nails, old hair pins and crooked pocketknife blades. Some had strange-shaped heads, others had pieces of metal sticking out at odd angles.
‘Mi fada’s famous lock picking tools,’ Benny said, giving Whisker a white-toothed grin.
‘Your father was a locksmith?’ Whisker asked.
‘Not a locksmith, mon,’ Benny replied, removing the chain from his neck. ‘Fada was a politician. Mi uncle locked him up in Elderhorne and he used dese tools to escape. He picked seven locks before he reached open air and fled to Freeforia. Made mi uncle look like a real fool.’
‘Serves him right,’ Ruby snorted. ‘What kind of uncle locks up his own brother?’
‘Da rich and powerful type,’ Benny said, sharing a look with Horace. ‘But dat’s all in the past.’ He rose to his feet and began creeping towards the gates. ‘Come on. I’ll show yuh how dese tings work.’
Whisker started to follow Benny, but Horace grabbed his sleeve with his hook.
‘Listen,’ the short rat whispered. ‘I’m not sure how much you know about Benny, but his uncle isn’t just some regular chimp with family issues. He’s Governor Cazban.’
‘Cazban?’ Ruby exclaimed. ‘That worm-ridden dung beetle who calls himself the Governor of Aladrya?’
‘The very same,’ Horace said. ‘And from what I’ve heard, he hates Benny’s family more than he hates pirates – and that’s saying something.’
‘Clearly,’ Whisker murmured. ‘I guess there’s no chance Benny can plead for our pardon then.’
‘Not a chance,’ Horace said, breaking from the bushes.
Benny was already working on the padlock when the three rats joined him. They stood and watched in silence as he inserted one tool after another into the lock, wiggling and twisting the strange metal objects. From the darkness beyond the gates, they could hear the faint buzz of Smudge’s wings growing louder as he returned from his exploration.
‘Anything?’ Ruby whispered as the blowfly appeared through a gap in the gate.
Smudge shook his head.
‘I guess it’s safe to light the lanterns then,’ Whisker said, throwing the box of matches to Horace. ‘How close are you to opening the gates, Benny?’
On cue, there was a loud CLICK as the lock released.
‘Best set of lock picks in da world,’ Benny said proudly, releasing the heavy chain from the padlock.
‘Nice work, Benny,’ Whisker said, helping the smiling chimpanzee to push the gates open. ‘Keep those picks ready. I have a feeling we’ll need them again before too long.’
‘Dey will be hanging close to mi heart,’ Benny said, draping his golden chain around his neck.
Closing the gates behind them, the companions made their way into the long, winding tunnel. Lanterns raised high, they studied their eerie surrounds.
Known as a lava tube, the circular-shaped tunnel had been formed by a river of molten rock flowing from the volcano. The edges of the lava had hardened to form a roof over the still-flowing stream of lava. When the lava had finished draining, a hollow tunnel was left in its place.
From what Whisker knew, the mountain was riddled with similar lava tubes, lying just below the surface. Many were connected by smaller tubes. Others had been altered by erosion. Where sections of the roofs had collapsed, gaping holes let rain and sunlight into the underground world.
This particular lava tube was dark and damp. In the softer sections of earth near the entrance gates where the recent monsoonal rains had washed in, Whisker noticed a number of footprints and the impression of cart wheels. Above him, strange stalactites hung from the ceiling of the tunnel. Formed by dripping lava, they resembled enormous shark teeth or the folded wings of bats.
‘They creep me out every time I come in here,’ Horace whispered, waving his hook at the ceiling. ‘I’m waiting for the day one of them comes crashing down and slices me in half.’
Whisker lowered his eyes from the ceiling and tried to think of happier ways to end his days.
Following a gentle slope upwards, they reached a section of the tunnel where two small lava tubes split off from the main one. Whisker removed the folded piece of notepaper from his drawstring bag and checked the first symbol.
‘We need to take the left tunnel,’ he said matching the cylindrical shape with a symbol carved above him.
‘Left it is,’ Horace said, falling into step behind Whisker.
The young apprentice led his companions up the small tunnel and quickly reached another junction. This time there were two choices: right and straight.
‘It says to turn right,’ he said, staring at the symbols in the lantern light.
Ruby nodded and began moving forward with the second lantern. She hadn’t gone far into the tunnel when she stopped and let out a loud groan. ‘Ratbeard’s curse.’
‘What is it?’ Horace squeaked, scrambling after her. ‘Is something up there? Let me see.’ There was a brief pause and then he exclaimed, ‘Shiver me avalanches! You’d better take a look at this, Whisker.’
Whisker rushed into the wide tunnel with Benny by his side. Reaching their companions, they skidded to a halt at the base of a large pile of rocks and rubble stretching from floor to ceiling.
‘Burnt banana bread!’ Benny exclaimed. ‘Dem dirty, rotten meerkats have blocked da entire tunnel.’
‘Just our luck,’ Whisker murmured, his tail collapsing limply on the ground. ‘A few of their spades would come in handy right about now.’
‘Surely there’s another way through,’ Ruby said, turning to address Benny. ‘You said you knew your way around these caves.’
‘Ya,’ he said slowly. ‘Dere’s a couple of ways to reach da central cave. But I may have exaggerated mi caving knowledge a wee bit.’
Ruby rolled her eye. ‘So you’re telling me you’re about as useless as Horace when it comes to navigating underground?’
‘Well maybe not quite dat bad,’ Benny pointed out. ‘But it’s been a few years since I’ve been down here.’
‘Oh great,’ Ruby fumed. ‘We have no guide, no spades, and a set of directions that are now totally useless. Does anyone have any good news to share?’
‘I have a compass,’ Whisker said, removing the brass object from his bag. ‘And we know the central cave is east of here –’
‘Well, that solves everything,’ Ruby said sarcastically. ‘We’re going to navigate our way through solid rock.’
‘Let me finish,’ Whisker said. ‘It’s highly unlikely that the meerkats blocked the entire tunnel this morning, which means they must have been taking an alternate route to the mint for at least a few days while they completed their handiwork. If we look hard enough, we may spot an occasional footprint or catch a lingering scent to tell us which passages to take.’
‘Sounds time-consuming,’ Ruby muttered.
‘Not as time-consuming as digging through those rocks with our scissor swords,’ Whisker countered.
Ruby simply shrugged and Whisker knew it was her way of agreeing with him.
‘We’ll start at the main passage,’ he said, reversing down the tunnel. ‘Keep your noses to the ground and your eyes wide open.’
So, the detective work began – hunting for clues, sniffing the air, checking for compass directions and kicking one another in the backside when someone chose the wrong passage.
There seemed to be more dead-ends than open tunnels and, as Ruby predicted, their progress was slow.
‘We must be close,’ Whisker said, spotting several meerkat footprints in an east-running tunnel.
‘Yuh said dat an hour ago, mon,’ Benny yawned.
‘And the hour before that,’ Horace added. ‘We’ve been wandering around all night. No food. No water. The lanterns are running low on oil –’
‘Shh,’ Ruby hissed, cutting him off. ‘There’s something up ah
ead. Look.’
Squinting into the darkness, Whisker saw a section of the rocky tunnel where the path divided into two. The left-hand passage appeared to be empty, except for a layer of decaying leaves strewn across the ground. The right-hand passage contained something far more disturbing. As Whisker drew closer, he saw the warm light of the lanterns shimmering off an enormous structure, stretching across the entire passage.
‘Shiver me spider’s webs!’ Horace gasped, waving his hook in a circle around the tunnel. ‘And I thought the orb web in the forest was big. This monstrosity is at least twice that size.’
‘Yuh know what dey say about big spider’s webs,’ Benny said, creeping slowly towards the left-hand passage with a lantern.
‘What?’ Horace whispered, tiptoeing after him.
‘Don’t get caught in dem.’
While the rest of his companions edged cautiously away from the web, Whisker took a step closer and raised the second lantern. There was no sign of the spider on his side of the web, so he reasoned it would be safe to investigate the enormous construction further.
He had seen plenty of orb webs in his life, but there was something about this particular web that made him curious.
Was it simply its size? he wondered, studying the structure of the web. The spiral capture thread was so closely spaced that not even Smudge could fly through a gap without being caught. Moving his eyes outwards, Whisker saw that the radial threads ran all the way to the walls of the cave so that the web filled every inch of the tunnel.
The web was the perfect trap.
Too perfect, Whisker thought, recalling the web from the forest.
The orb web that had ensnared him on that occasion had been constructed inside a triangular-shaped frame. It was held up by a bridging thread and anchored to the ground at a single point. In contrast, the web in this cave was supported entirely by radial threads. It had no frame and no bridging thread.
Throwing caution to the wind, Whisker stepped to the very edge of the web, hoping to confirm his suspicions. At close range, the threads suspended in front of him appeared to be far thicker than ordinary spider silk – almost as if they’d been spun on a spinning wheel.
The Golden Anchor Page 14
