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

disaster.”
    He lengthened his stride, and moved ahead.
    Lief and Jasmine went after him, but they did not speak for a long time after that. Lief was too angry, and Jasmine’s mind was busy with thoughts she did not wish to share.

F our days of hard marching followed — four long days in which Lief, Barda, and Jasmine spoke little and then only of moving on and keeping out of sight of any possible enemy. But when, at last, in the afternoon of the fourth day, they stood on the banks of Broad River, they realized that they should have planned their next step more carefully.
    The river was deep, and its name described it well. It was so wide that they could only faintly see the land on the other side. The great sheet of water stretched in front of them like a sea. There was no way across.
    Bleached white, and hard as stone, the ancient remains of wooden rafts lay half-buried in the sand. Perhaps, long ago, people had crossed the river here, and abandoned the rafts where they came to rest. But there were no trees on this side to provide wood for rafts — only banks of reeds.
    Jasmine’s eyes narrowed as she peered across the dull sheen of the water. “The land on the other side is very flat,” she said slowly. “It is a plain. And I see a dark shape rising from it. If that is the City of the Rats, it is straight ahead of us. All we have to do is —”
    “Cross the river,” said Lief heavily. He threw himself down on the fine, white sand and began rummaging in his pack, looking for something to eat.
    He pulled out the collection of things they had bought from Tom and tipped them onto the ground in a small heap. He had almost forgotten about them, and now he stared at them with distaste.
    They had seemed so exciting in the shop. Now they looked like rubbishy novelties. The beads that made fire. The “No Bakes” bread. The powder labelled “Pure and Clear.” The little pipe that was supposed to blow bubbles of light. And a small, flat tin box with a faded label …

    Of course. Tom’s free gift. Something completely useless, no doubt, that he could not dispose of any other way. Lief sneered to himself as he turned the tin over.
    “It is too far for us to swim. We will have to follow the river until we find a village where there are boats,” Barda was saying. “It is a pity to have to go out of our way, but we have no choice.”
    “Perhaps we do,” Lief said slowly.
    Jasmine and Barda looked at him in surprise. He held up the box and read aloud the words on the back.

    “Are you saying that whatever is in this little tin box can dry up a river?” jeered Jasmine.
    Lief shrugged. “I am saying nothing. I am simply reading the instructions.”
    “There are more warnings than instructions,” said Barda. “But we shall see.”
    They walked together to the river’s edge and Liefpried the lid off the tin box. Inside were some tiny crystals, each not much larger than a grain of sand. Feeling rather foolish, he pinched out a few of the crystals and tossed them into the water. They sank immediately without changing appearance in any way.
    And nothing else happened.
    Lief waited for a moment, then, fighting his disappointment, he tried to grin. “I should have known better,” he shrugged. “As if that Tom would give away anything that actually —”
    Then he shouted and jumped back. A huge, colorless, wobbling lump was rising from the river. Beside it was another — and another!
    “It is the crystals!” shouted Barda in excitement. “They are sucking up the water!”
    So they were. As they grew, spreading as Lief watched, they joined together to make a towering, wobbling wall that held back the river. And the water between them simply dried up, leaving a narrow, winding path of puddled, sandy mud.
    Kree squawked in amazement as Jasmine, Lief, and Barda stepped carefully onto the riverbed, squeezing between the jellied lumps and walking on until they came to the end of the dry patch. Then Lief threw another