Read Online Deltora Quest #3: City of the Rats by Emily Rodda - Free Book Online

knelt beside him. On the side of Reece’s neck was the ugly scar of an old burn. The scar was in a shape he knew only too well.

    “He has been branded,” he hissed, looking at the dull red mark with horror. “Branded with the mark ofthe Shadow Lord. Yet he lives here, free and powerful. What does this mean?”
    “It means that things in Noradz are not what they seem,” said Barda grimly. Quickly he moved to the bodies of the other Ra-Kacharz. The Shadow Lord’s brand was on every one.
    They looked up sharply as the handle of the door that led into the kitchen shook and rattled. There was a loud knock. Someone was trying to get in.
    “Another inspection must have been completed,” muttered Jasmine. “The cooks have a bin of food to throw away.”
    Finding that their way was barred, the people behind the door began shouting and thumping with their fists. Reece mumbled and groaned. His eyelids fluttered. He was about to wake.
    Barda sprang to his feet. “We will take him with us. We will force him to tell us how to save ourselves from whatever is inside the passage. And, in any case, a hostage will be useful.”
    Hastily they pulled their packs onto their backs and dragged Reece to the Hole entrance. They pushed him into the darkness. Then, one by one, they crawled after him. There was no time, now, to think of what might await them below.

L ief slithered cautiously down the slope, holding Reece’s ankles with one gloved hand, and with the other catching at the sides and roof of the passage to stop himself from moving too quickly. It was not easy, for the rock was covered with a thin layer of fungus that slipped and smeared under his fingers. Gradually the passage narrowed until it was just wide enough for one of the big bins to move through without sticking.
    Lief’s pack kept catching on the roof. With a shout of warning to Barda, who was behind him, he wriggled till the straps slipped from his shoulders, and let himself slide away from underneath the bag. He knew that it would keep moving after him. The slope had become steeper, and it was all he could do to stop himself from slipping down out of control.
    Other things had changed, too. The growling was louder, a ceaseless rumbling that seemed to fill Lief’s ears and his mind. It was harder to hold Reece, who was still not quite awake, but was starting to move his legs, to catch at the walls with his hands, and to raise his head so that now and then it grazed the roof of the tunnel.
    And there was light below — a faint glow, too yellow to be moonlight. It quickly grew brighter and Lief realized that he was reaching the bottom of the slope, that the passage was about to level out.
    “Be ready!” he shouted to Barda and Jasmine. And almost at the same moment, without warning, Reece’s body began to writhe and twist. He shrieked and kicked. His ankles slipped from Lief’s grasp and he slid away, downward towards the light. Gasping with shock, Lief saw his jerking body reach the bottom of the slope.
    But it did not stop. Somehow, it kept moving.
    Thinking of nothing but keeping his enemy in sight, Lief let go of the walls and let himself slide down the last part of the slope. In moments he had reached level ground.
    Ahead of him the passage broadened. Light glowed softly from the roof. The rumbling sound was all about him. The ground beneath him was no longer the smooth, hard rock of the tunnel, but something softer, lumpier — something that trembled slightly under his hands …and that moved! Like Reece, he was being carried on — and the ground itself was carrying him!
    The red-clad figure was crawling a little further ahead. Lief picked himself up and ran towards it, covering the distance in seconds. He jumped for the writhing man, wrestling with him, trying to hold him still.
    Their rolling, struggling bodies hit the wall at the side of the passage. Lief felt rough earth beneath him. Rough earth that did not rumble or move. Reece arched his back,