The Tunnels of Ferdinand

by James Moloney

  ‘Family?’

  ‘That’s what we used to call the parents and the children together. The same parents could have five or six children, you know, or even more. There was another boy in my family, a brother.’

  This was all very strange to Berrin. The Dfx had never used words like ‘family’ or ‘brother’.

  Ferdinand went on. ‘The Time Before wasn’t perfect, but it was better than what we have now.’

  He was watching Berrin very closely, so closely that he was becoming uncomfortable under the pale man’s gaze. He was also growing more intrigued. ‘These parents. How long do they live?’

  ‘Seventy, eighty years, normally. But they have children when they’re much younger than that.’

  ‘Then mine are probably still alive?’

  He nodded. ‘And I’ll tell you something else you might find exciting. Children often resemble their parents. I remember a girl who looked so much like her mother that the only difference was their size.’

  ‘You mean this father I have somewhere up on the surface might look just like me?’ This was amazing news.

  Berrin wasn’t the only one to become excited. A flush of colour appeared in Ferdinand’s cheeks, and he leaned forward to say something else.

  But Jasper chose that exact moment to leap onto Berrin’s knee and sit twitching his nose at the boy. Berrin picked the rat up and stroked the tiny patch of white fur affectionately.

  ‘He’s taken a shine to you. Would you like to keep him?’ asked Ferdinand, smiling.

  ‘But he’s yours. He lives here with you.’

  ‘Like a family,’ said Ferdinand with a teasing wink. ‘All the Rats are my family, the human ones anyway. I can spare Jasper, so long as you bring him down here from time to time.’

  Berrin was delighted. He transferred the little rodent to his shoulder, where Jasper perched happily. ‘Thank you. Of course I’ll bring him back to see you.’

  ‘Bring him tomorrow. In fact, I want you to take a message to Dorian. Tell her I want all the Rats gathered here for a meeting tomorrow, as early as she can arrange it.’

  He stood up, or at least he straightened as much as the confining tunnel would allow.

  It was the signal for Berrin to leave, but he felt something had been left unsaid when Jasper had interrupted their conversation. ‘Ferdinand, you invited me down here specially. Was there something you wanted to tell me?’

  The ghostly figure hesitated for a moment then sighed. ‘Yes, Berrin, something special, but I have decided to leave it until we all meet tomorrow.’

  TEN

  A Change of Strategy

  THE MEETING WAS THE talk of the tunnels that evening as they settled into their hammocks. Berrin was getting the hang of these now and managed to sleep the entire night without falling onto the concrete even once.

  In the morning, he joined the line of Rats heading for Ferdinand’s cramped and lonely home. Quinn led the way with Olanda behind him. Dorian was busy collecting the rest. They would all be there today, twenty-six in total, according to Dorian. There were some Berrin hadn’t even met yet.

  Ferdinand welcomed them warmly, though this enthusiasm cost him a coughing fit. It subsided in time for him to answer more questions from Olanda about the Time Before.

  Berrin watched the Rats’ faces as Ferdinand talked. Quinn, Ruben, Vindy and a dozen others had heard these stories already but the longing in their faces showed they were happy to listen all over again. And why not? The Time Before sounded like a much happier place than these tunnels.

  Berrin had brought Jasper with him, as promised. The little rat had climbed onto Ferdinand’s shoulder at first, but now he had gone back to his new owner. The others had all heard about Ferdinand’s remarkable gift. Many looked jealously towards Berrin and his pet, Quinn most of all. Being Quinn, he had to say something.

  ‘Why did he get Jasper? He’s only been here a few days. He hasn’t even been on a proper mission above ground yet. What’s so special about Berrin?’

  ‘His name,’ said Ferdinand in a rather blunt reply.

  The other Rats had arrived now, with Dorian the last to find a place on the cold floor. Ferdinand paused to look affectionately at all the faces. They stared back expectantly at his own, which seemed so frail and tired.

  ‘Berrin is an unusual name. I know of only one other person who carried that name. It was invented by his family, just for him.’

  ‘Who?’ said a voice, beating Berrin, who had been about to ask the same question himself.

  ‘My own father,’ answered Ferdinand. ‘Before Malig Tumora took over the city with his beasts and his machines, I lived in a family with my own mother and father. I am one of the few who can still remember such things. Perhaps the only one. It’s my most precious memory.’

  Ferdinand drifted off for a moment in a reverie that warmed his pallid skin in a way that nothing else could.

  ‘Your own father was named Berrin?’ Dorian prompted him. ‘But how could this boy have the name if it was made up specially?’

  ‘That was the question I asked myself when I first heard the name again just a few days ago. There can be only one answer. I had a brother, many years older than me. He was already a grown-up when Malig Tumora took all the children away from their parents. I have thought about this a great deal, and I feel certain now that my brother must have had a son and given that baby boy the special family name, Berrin.’

  Around the confines of the pipe the children gasped, none more loudly than Berrin himself. He had learned about parents only recently. Now his father had been identified as Ferdinand’s own brother. He felt the eyes of his companions upon him. No wonder he was special to their ghostly leader.

  ‘Berrin and I are family. There are words to describe it that you haven’t heard before. He and I are nephew and uncle. But I didn’t call you all here just to teach you those words.’

  He stood up, mustering all his strength so as not to sway as he stooped over them. ‘Berrin’s name has a far greater significance than his connection to me. It shows that some memory still survives in the minds of the grown-ups. My brother gave his son a name he remembered, a name from the Time Before. It was an act of defiance. He did it to rebel against Malig Tumora, even though that evil man would have no idea it was happening.’

  ‘What does that mean for us, though?’ Berrin asked.

  ‘It gives us hope. Hope that if we can overthrow Malig Tumora then the old ways will return.’ He saw that they didn’t quite understand. Pressing his hands against his chest, he went on, ‘I have always told you to stay away from the grown-ups on your missions to the surface. You have obeyed my orders, but it’s meant that until now I haven’t been sure whether any memory remains in their minds. If my own brother remembers the Time Before, though, then others must as well. For all his machines and inventions, Malig Tumora has only managed to keep them obedient. He hasn’t changed what lies in their hearts.’

  Berrin saw the excitement in Ferdinand’s face and he understood. ‘You’ve been waiting to find this out for a long time, haven’t you?’

  ‘All my years in these tunnels, yes. And now you have brought us the news. You are the sign, Berrin, the sign I have been waiting for.’

  He held out his hands to the rest of the assembled Rats. ‘It’s a sign for the rest of us too, and that’s another reason you are all here today. We must change our strategy.’

  ‘Strategy?’ cried Quinn. ‘What’s that?’

  If Dorian had been close enough, she would have thumped him on the shoulder. As it was, the Rats on either side of Quinn sent him an angry sneer.

  ‘Our aims and the way we do things, Quinn,’ Ferdinand explained patiently. ‘Up till now, we’ve put most of our effort into surviving down here in the tunnels. Sometimes we send raiding parties to the surface to cut power lines and damage some of Malig Tumora’s machines. It is time to do more than that.’

  ‘But he knows about us. He sends his Gadges out onto the streets to kill us. If
we take too many risks, they’ll find out where we live,’ Ruben reminded him.

  ‘We can’t do more unless we take more risks.’

  ‘What sorts of things are we going to do?’ asked Dorian. She was a leader herself and approached most things as a challenge. She was eager to know what challenges Ferdinand had in mind.

  ‘We must explore the surface more. Find out more about what’s happening up there.’

  ‘We know what’s happening. Malig Tumora has turned it into a dangerous place where everyone does what he says,’ Quinn responded with a snort.

  ‘Yes, but how does he do it? We know he controls the grown-ups. He must have a way of keeping them like … well, like little children used to be, before you lot came along.’

  He reached into his hammock and took out a neatly folded length of material. ‘Hold this up for me,’ he called to Olanda and Vindy, who responded immediately. Each took a corner, and when they stretched it out between them the rest could see dark lines and squares drawn on it.

  ‘This is called a map. These dark lines are the main tunnels we move along. These,’ he said, pointing to some of the squares, ‘are buildings we know of on the surface.’

  The Rats stared at the amazing thing Ferdinand had created. A map, he had called it.

  ‘What does it do?’ asked Quinn.

  ‘It helps us work out our strategy,’ Ferdinand replied. ‘Look, here are the children’s dormitories you all came from, and this,’ he went on, switching to a different area altogether, ‘is where all the grown-ups live.’

  They huddled closer, trying to make sense of it.

  ‘But see, there are too many places with nothing marked. I don’t know what’s there and neither do you. If we are going to overthrow Malig Tumora, we have to know where his machines are, the ones he uses to control the grown-ups.’

  ‘What good will that do?’

  Ferdinand picked out the face of the Rat who had called to him. Then he smiled wickedly. ‘Once we know where they are, we can destroy them.’

  THE MEETING WAS OVER. The Rats started to return to the main tunnels a couple at a time. Everyone was talking and there was only one topic of conversation. They were going to beat Malig Tumora, not just harass him in tiny ways and disappear underground, as real rats did. They were going to wage a war against him.

  Berrin was one of the last to leave, along with Dorian. The narrow pipe they crawled through chafed his shoulders. The discomfort reminded him that Ferdinand could not even come this far. A terrible thought struck him and he called ahead to Dorian.

  ‘This map we have to make and the risks Ferdinand talked about. If the Gadges work out where we’re hiding, Ferdinand won’t be able to escape. He’ll be a sitting duck!’

  Dorian had reached the rectangular chamber by this time. She stood up and waited for Berrin to join her. His helmet light shone into her face, showing features that had turned hard and serious. ‘He knows that, Berrin,’ she said quietly. ‘Ferdinand knows that better than any of us.’

  ELEVEN

  A Playful Kind of Enemy

  FERDINAND’S MAP WAS NOW attached to the wall in his tunnel. Each day, Dorian visited him to discuss the missions to the surface that would fill in the missing spaces. Sometimes, Ferdinand asked that Berrin come with her. ‘We are the only two in these tunnels who know we are related,’ he explained. ‘It makes me feel better every time I see your face and remember your parents.’

  ‘When can I go on one of these missions?’ Berrin asked in frustration. It was four days since the large gathering and already new features had been added to the map. None of it was his work.

  ‘You’ve never been on a raiding party,’ Dorian replied. ‘You have no experience.’

  ‘How can I get experience if you won’t take me with you?’

  ‘No,’ she insisted. ‘These are much more dangerous journeys to the surface than usual.’

  ‘Wait,’ said Ferdinand, coming to his rescue. ‘It’s time you gave him his chance. He might be a leader like you one day, Dorian. He needs to know what it’s like to risk his life.’

  Berrin hadn’t thought of it in quite that way. He swallowed hard.

  ‘All right. He can come with us tonight.’

  ‘Olanda too?’

  ‘No! She’s brave but she’s far too impulsive. She’ll get us all killed.’

  ‘What do you think, Berrin?’ Ferdinand asked.

  It was a test, Berrin could tell. Ferdinand knew how highly he thought of his headstrong friend, but would loyalty outweigh common sense?

  Berrin tried to consider what was best for them all. Yes, taking Olanda was a risk perhaps, but hadn’t Ferdinand himself said it was time to risk more in order to gain more?

  ‘She should have her chance, like me.’

  Dorian frowned and let out a sigh, then nodded her head to show that she reluctantly agreed.

  THEY TRAVELLED IN THE Dodgems to start with, the longest journey yet for Berrin and Olanda. Dorian and Quinn led the way, then Ruben and Vindy, and the new recruits last of all, with Olanda at the wheel.

  ‘Time to break out onto the surface,’ said Dorian at length, as she brought the column of Dodgems to a halt beneath a manhole cover. This one opened behind an abandoned building, which ensured they would not be spotted by any Gadges passing in the street.

  Berrin had been a Rat living underground for little more than a week and already he felt vulnerable out in the open. To make him even more uneasy, the part of the city they explored seemed strange. There were rows of small buildings on either side of the street, each of them separate, with patches of overgrown bush in between.

  ‘These are called houses,’ Dorian whispered. ‘It’s where the grown-ups live, two people to a house mostly. Ferdinand says the man is called a husband and the woman is called a wife.’

  ‘Weird,’ said Berrin, who had only known life in a dormitory.

  ‘We have to find out how far these streets go, and Ferdinand wants to know whether there are any other types of buildings. Anything that seems strange.’

  Olanda was close at Berrin’s shoulder. ‘What’s that funny light?’ she asked.

  Berrin had seen it too. These ‘houses’, as Dorian called them, had windows. Most were covered with heavy material so the Rats couldn’t see inside, but round the edges this material glowed with a bluish tinge. As they watched, it flashed rapidly and occasionally changed colour.

  ‘That’s the light from the teller-visions,’ Dorian replied. ‘Remember what Ferdinand told us? They’re the machines Malig Tumora uses to tell all the grown-ups what to do.’

  I hope I never have to sit in front of one, thought Berrin. Still, he was curious and ventured a little closer, but he could not see into the house and all he could hear was a droning voice.

  ‘That’s not what makes them obey, though, is it?’ he said when he rejoined Dorian.

  ‘No, Ferdinand is sure there’s something else. Teller-vision on its own wouldn’t be enough.’

  There was no light in the street except for the dull blue seeping from the windows. This made it easier for the Rats to move around unnoticed. All the same, Quinn kept his crossbow cocked and loaded. Vindy carried a second one, and all of them could have their swords in hand in a flash if danger loomed out of the darkness.

  They crept cautiously ahead. There were no strange-looking buildings among the houses, no whirring machines that didn’t belong. Something did catch Berrin’s eye, though, and he ventured closer.

  He soon found Dorian at his side. ‘Not too close.’

  ‘What’s that pipe?’ he asked as she guided him backwards into the street.

  She followed his pointing arm. ‘You mean that tube down the outside of the house? That takes rainwater from the roof,’ she said with a note of impatience. ‘You know where it ends up, don’t you? Down where we live.’

  Berrin knew what a downpipe was. The Dfx in his dormitory had made him climb one to unclog it when the opening had filled with leaves and dirt. He h
ad hated doing it. The climb had made him dizzy. Though he would never admit it, heights terrified him.

  But these houses had a second pipe that didn’t reach all the way to the gutters. In fact, it seemed to go through the wall of the house itself. He traced one of them downwards, and sure enough, it didn’t disappear into the ground either. It linked to a larger pipe above the surface. Following it even further, he saw that this pipe stretched all the way along the street.

  Before he could say anything to Dorian, a loud barking cut through the night’s silence. For a moment he feared the Gadges had found them.

  ‘Rhino Dogs,’ Quinn whispered. ‘Quickly, this way.’

  All six Rats sprinted between two houses, jumped a fence and raced into an almost identical street on the other side. The barking followed them. There was no time for a plan. They scattered in every direction, each hoping to be out of sight before the beasts appeared.

  Berrin had already drawn his sword. Would it be any use against a Rhino Dog? The name sent a chill through him, although he didn’t have a clue what they even looked like.

  He soon found out, though, when one of the creatures came at him from behind. Before he could run, before he could even swing his sword, it knocked him to the ground. His sword spilled from his hand as he landed face-first in the dirt. He twisted quickly onto his back and found himself looking up at a repulsive sight.

  The face was narrow and black, the lower jaw coming to a vicious point. If this wasn’t bad enough, the creature’s nose stretched up into a curved horn with its two beady eyes staring down at him from either side. He tried to roll away but the beast was too fast for him. A paw fell heavily onto his chest, pinning him to the spot.

  Then the creature licked Berrin’s face. Its tongue was long and warm and rather wet. It licked him again, then it barked so loudly his eardrums almost burst.

  ‘Get up,’ said a voice close by. ‘Come on, you can’t lie there all day,’ it urged.