The great snake was growing restless. Lief could feel it. Its tongue was flicking in and out. Its head was bending towards him.
“Reeah! The new city is called No Rats — Noradz,” he shouted. “I have seen it. The people have forgotten what they once were, and where they came from. Their fear of rats has broken their spirit. The rat catchers are called Ra-Kacharz now, and are like priests, keeping sacred laws. They carry whips like the tails of rats. They are all-powerful. The people live in fear and slavery, serving your Master’s purpose.”
It is good, hissed Reeah. It is what they deserve. So you have told your story, Lief of Del. Your pitiful magic, your puny weapons, and your smooth tongue have amused me — for a time. But now I am sick of your chatter.
Without warning, it struck. Lief slashed with his sword to protect himself, but the snake’s first sweep struck the weapon from his hand as if it were a toy. It spun away from him, circling high into the air.
“Jasmine!” Lief cried. But there was no time to see if Jasmine had caught the sword. The snake was about to strike again. Its huge jaws were open, its fangs dripping with poison.
“Lief! The fire beads!” Barda’s voice sounded from the other end of the hall. He must have crept there, to try to attack the monster from behind. The giant snake’s tail lashed, and to his horror, Lief saw Barda’s body crash into a column and lie still.
The fire beads. Desperately, Lief felt in his pockets, found the jar, and threw it, hard, straight at his enemy’s open mouth. But Reeah was too fast for him. The wicked head jerked to one side. The jar sailed past it, smashing uselessly into a column and bursting in a ball of flames.
And then it was only Lief and Reeah.
You are mine, Lief of Del!
The huge head lunged forward with terrifying speed. And the next moment the great snake was raising itself, triumphant, Lief’s body dangling from its jaws.
Up, up to the rafters, the hot breath burning …
I will swallow you whole. And your magic with you.
There was smoke. There was a crackling sound. Dimly Lief realized that the flames had raced up the column and were licking at the old wood of the rafters.
The fire will not save you. When I have devoured you I will put it out with one gust of my breath. For I am Reeah, the all-powerful. I am Reeah, the One …
Through a dizzy haze of terror and pain, through a film of smoke that stung his eyes, Lief saw Jasmine, balancing on a beam beside him. His sword was swinging in her hand. She had torn the red covering from her face. Her teeth were bared in savage fury. She raised her arm …
And with a mighty slash she swung the sword, slitting the monster’s throat from edge to edge.
Lief heard a hoarse, bubbling cry. He felt the beast’s jaws open. He was falling, hurtling towards the ground, the hard stones rushing up to meet him.
And then — there was nothing.
Groaning, Lief stirred. There was a sweet taste on his lips, and he could hear a crackling sound, a tearing, chewing sound, and shouting, very far away.
He opened his eyes. Jasmine and Barda were leaning over him, calling his name. Jasmine was screwing the top back onto a small jar attached to a chain around her neck. Dimly, Lief realized that he had been given nectar from the Lilies of Life. It had saved him — perhaps brought him back to life as once it had done for Barda.
“I — I am well,” he mumbled, struggling to sit up. He looked around. The hall was filled with flickering shadows. Flames, begun and spread by the blazing fire beads, roared in the ancient rafters. The giant snake lay dead on the floor, its body covered by gnawing rats. More rats were streaming from the walls and through the doorway, fighting one another to reach the feast.
For hundreds of years it has eaten them, thought Lief, dazed. Now they are eating it. Even fear of fire will not stop them.
“We must get out! Out!” Barda was shouting.
Lief felt himself pulled to his feet and slung over Barda’s shoulder. His head was spinning. He wanted to cry out, “What of the crown? The opal?”
But then he saw that the crown was in Barda’s hand.
Limp as a doll, he was carried through burning hallways. Jolting on Barda’s back, he closed his stinging eyes against the smoke.
When he looked again, they were staggering through the city gateway onto the dark plain and Kree, squawking anxiously, was soaring to meet them. There was a tremendous crash from behind them. The roof of the city had begun to fall.
On they went, and on, till they had nearly reached the river.
“I can walk,” Lief managed to croak. Barda stopped and put him gently on the ground. His legs trembled, but he stood upright, turning to look at the burning city.
“I never thought I’d see you stand on your own two feet again, my friend,” Barda said cheerfully. “That fall Jasmine gave you was —”
“It was let him fall or see him disappear into the snake’s belly,” exclaimed Jasmine. “Which do you think was better?”
She handed Lief’s sword to him. It gleamed in the moonlight, its blade still dark with Reeah’s blood.
“Jasmine —” Lief began. But she shrugged and turned away, pretending to be busy coaxing Filli out onto her shoulder. He saw that she was embarrassed at the idea that he would try to thank her for saving his life.
“Do you think it is safe to rest here?” he asked instead. “Having recently had every bone in my body broken, I do not think I could face crossing the river yet.”
Barda nodded. “Quite safe, I think. For a while, at least, there will be no rats here.” Then his teeth gleamed as he grinned and brushed his hands from shoulder to hip. “Noradzeer,” he added.
“Lief, how did you know, before the snake told you, that the people of Noradz had once lived in the City of the Rats?” Jasmine demanded.
“There were many clues,” Lief said tiredly. “But, perhaps, I would not have seen the connection if I had not found this.” He pulled the tarnished goblet from his Belt and held it out to them.
“Why, it is a pair to the goblet that held the Life and Death cards — the sacred Cup of Noradz,” said Barda, taking it in his hands and looking at it with wonder. “It must have been dropped and left behind when the people fled the city.”
Lief smiled as Filli’s small black nose peeped over Jasmine’s collar to see what was happening.
“No wonder Filli frightened the people in Noradz,” he said.
“He looks nothing like a rat!” Jasmine exclaimed indignantly.
“They hate anything small with fur. It must be a fear taught to them from their earliest days,” said Barda.
Lief nodded. “Like the fear of dropping food on the ground, or leaving dishes uncovered, because such things once attracted rats in the hundreds. Or the fear of eating food that has been spoiled, as it often was in the days of the plague. The need for such great care passed hundreds of years ago. But the Ra-Kacharz have seen to it that the fear remains, and keeps the people in bondage to them — and to the Shadow Lord.”
Lief was speaking lightly and idly, to blot from his mind the horrible things that had just happened to him. But Jasmine looked at him seriously, her head to one side.
“Plainly, then, it is quite possible for a people to forget their history, and to follow foolish rules out of duty, if they are born to it,” she said. “I would not have believed it. But now I have seen it with my own eyes.”
Lief realized that this was her way of saying that she was beginning to think that the kings and queens of Deltora had been less to blame than she had thought. Of this, he was very glad.
“Mind you,” Jasmine added quickly, as he smiled, “there is always a choice, and bonds can be broken. The girl Tira helped us, though she feared.” She paused. “One day, I hope, we can go back for her and set her free. Make them all free, if they wish it.”