Free Through the Tiger's Eye by Kerrie O'Connor Page A

sounded scared. Rahel touched her arm but didn’t stop or say anything. Lucy tried to speak, but her voice had gone back to bed. By the time she’d woken it up again, they had rounded the bend at the end of the tunnel.
    ‘Stop,’ said Lucy, panicking. ‘We can’t just go marching in and tell the Bulls to open the gates!’
    Rahel’s eyes flashed in the torchlight.
    ‘Do you believe I am stupid? There is a hole in the back fence. We have observed it through the bars. Toro and Ricardo will climb through. The guards neglect to check the fence or the back of the jail. They think we cannot get out. Besides, they sleep in a room at the front of the building and believe everyone is too intimidated to defy them.’
    ‘What about the ones near the fire?’
    ‘They are supposed to stay awake. But it is Saturday, the night they consume much alcohol. The Bull Commander travels to Telares City every Saturday and does not come back until late tomorrow. The guards, they enjoy it when he is away; they buy wine. They do not stop drinking until late at night, even the guards who are supposed to stay awake near the fire. The ones sleeping inside are the worst. Besides, on Saturdays, only two guards stay on duty at the fire.’
    ‘My dad says soldiers aren’t supposed to get drunk in uniform,’ Lucy said.
    ‘But these guards are not professional soldiers. They are just militiamen.’
    ‘Milisha-what?’
    ‘Militiamen. They don’t even have uniforms,’ said Rahel.
    ‘OK, but who’s the guy who smiles all the time? He’s got a uniform.’
    ‘That is the Bull Commander,’ said Rahel. Abruptly, she changed the subject.
    A scene from the morning’s drama at the jungle jail played back in Lucy’s mind. Rahel was right. The smiling soldier did wear a brown uniform with that ugly picture of the horned bull on it. But this morning, at the jungle jail, the other guards had looked kind of mixed up. Their pants were all different colours, and some of them just wore T-shirts. One even had a long ponytail.
    Rahel was still talking softly.
    ‘We will avoid the clearing at first, go around the back and Toro and Ricardo will climb through the hole and then open up the entry . . .’
    ‘What entry?’
    ‘The jail, it is rotting. They have put us in the strongest section but some of the wood in the walls was loose and my friends Carlos and Pablo have aggravated it but the guards don’t know. They extracted all the nails so the wood slides out. Toro can slip through with Ricardo’s aid. When he is inside, Ricardo will conceal himself and wait. Toro will help the smallest children climb out and Ricardo will hide them. Meanwhile, you and I will survey the guards in the clearing . . . and respond to any emergencies,’ Rahel finished abruptly.
    Why did she talk like that? She used all those big words but she still made it sound as if they were just going shopping.
    ‘What do you mean, emergencies? They’ll kill us. They can run faster than us and they have guns!’
    ‘We will create a diversion.’
    Rahel spoke calmly, with absolute confidence, and then, as though the conversation were over, walked on. Lucy watched, stunned, as the Tiger-cat leapt past Rahel, through the thick creepers and vines blocking the mouth of the tunnel. The creepers seemed to melt away. Lucy couldn’t think straight after that. She clicked out the torch and followed the others into the nightmare night.

16
Night Eyes

    Lucy glanced at the night sky. It was splattered with a million stars and the luminous full moon hung poised above the cliffs, ready to drop down out of sight. How did that happen? They must have spent a lot more time arguing than she’d thought. Then a bank of cloud washed over the moon and Lucy could barely see the track. The Tiger-cat padded forwards, the children keeping close behind so they wouldn’t lose each other in the shadows. Lucy kept T-Tongue on his lead.
    In a few minutes she saw a glow through the trees and ducked down beside