Deltora Quest #3: City of the Rats by Emily Rodda

it, something growled, long and low.
    “What is inside?” murmured Lief.
    “We do not know,” answered Tira. “Only the Ra-Kacharz can enter the Hole and survive.”
    “So they tell you!” said Lief scornfully.
    But Tira shook her head. “In my life I have seen two people try to escape the city through the Hole,” she said softly. “Both were brought out stiff and dead. Their eyes were open and staring. Their hands were torn and blistered. There was foam on their lips.” She shuddered. “It is said that they died of terror.”
    The dull roar sounded again from the tunnel. They peered into its darkness, but could see nothing.
    “Tira, do you know where our weapons are?” asked Barda urgently. “The swords — and the daggers?”
    Tira nodded warily. “They are waiting at the furnace,” she whispered. “Tomorrow they will be melted down, to be made into new things for the kitchen.”
    “Get them for us!” Barda urged.
    She shook her head. “I cannot!” she hissed desperately. “It is forbidden to touch them, and already I have committed terrible crimes for you.”
    “All we want is to leave here!” exclaimed Lief. “How can that hurt your people? And no one will ever know that it was you who helped us.”
    “Reece is the First of the Nine,” murmured Tira. “His word is law.”
    “Reece does not deserve your loyalty,” hissed Barda furiously. “You have seen for yourself that he lies and cheats, and makes a mockery of your laws! If anyone deserves to die, it is he!”
    But in saying this, he had gone too far. Tira’s cheeks flushed, her eyes widened, and she turned and ran back into the kitchen. The door swung closed behind her.
    Barda sighed impatiently. “I frightened her,” he muttered. “I should have guarded my tongue! What will we do now?”
    “We will make the best of it.” Determinedly, Lief lifted the grille from the tunnel entrance. “If the Ra-Kacharz can enter the Hole and live, so can we — with weapons or without.”
    He turned and beckoned to Jasmine. She backed away, shaking her head.
    “I cannot go,” she said loudly. “I thought Filli might be here, waiting for me. But he is not. He would not leave Noradz without me, and I will not leave without him.”
    Lief felt like shaking her. “Jasmine! There is no time to waste!” he urged. “Stop this foolishness!”
    She turned her clear green gaze to him. “I am not asking you and Barda to remain,” she said calmly. “You began this quest without me, and so you can continue.” She looked away. “Perhaps — it may be better, in any case,” she added.
    “What do you mean?” Lief demanded. “Why would it be better?”
    She shrugged. “We do not agree on — some things,” she said. “I am not sure —”
    But she never finished what she had to say, for at that moment the red door behind her burst open and Reece strode in, his black eyes glistening with triumphant fury. Before she could move he had grabbed her with one powerful arm and lifted her off her feet.
    “So, girl!” he snarled in her ear. “My ears did not deceive me. By what witchcraft did you escape from your cell?”
    Lief and Barda started towards him but he lashed out at them with his whip, holding them back.
    “Spies!” he growled. “Now your wickedness is proved. Now you invade our kitchens — to guide your evil creature to them, no doubt. When the people hear this, they will be happy for you to die a thousand deaths.”
    Jasmine struggled, but his grip was like iron.
    “You cannot escape, girl,” he sneered. “Even now,others of the Nine are stirring beyond this door. Your friends will die before you. I trust you will enjoy hearing their screams.”
    He lashed at Lief and Barda with his whip, driving them back, slowly but surely, towards the Hole.

O ne thought burned in Lief’s mind more strongly than all the rest. Some terrible danger really did lurk within the darkness of the Hole. Otherwise Reece would not be smiling so triumphantly