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

eat?”
    “Only a small amount of the food prepared is eaten,” Tira whispered back. “Much of what is cooked does not pass the inspection and is wasted.” She sighed. “The cooks are valued, trained from their youngest days, but I would not like to be one of them. It makes them sad to try so hard, and to fail so often.”
    They crept along the walkway, looking down, fascinated, at the activity below. They had been moving for about five minutes when Tira stopped and crouched.
    “Ra-Kachaz!” she breathed.
    Sure enough, two red-clad figures were striding into the kitchens.
    “It is an inspection,” whispered Tira.
    The Ra-Kacharz moved quickly to a place where four cooks stood, their hands behind their backs. Hundreds of jars of sugared fruits, bright as jewels, were lined up on a counter, awaiting inspection.
    The Ra-Kacharz paced along the line of jars, staring at them closely. When they had reached the end, they turned and paced back again. This time they pointed at certain jars, and these the cooks picked up and put on another bench.
    When finally the inspection was finished, six jars of fruit had been separated from the rest.
    “Those are the jars that will be blessed, and eaten by the people,” said Tira. “The rest have been rejected.” She gazed with sympathy at the cooks, who, shoulders sagging with disappointment, had begun packing the rejected jars into a huge metal bin.
    Lief, Barda, and Jasmine stared, horrified. The fruit all looked delicious and wholesome to them. “This is wicked!” Lief muttered angrily, as the Ra-Kacharz turned and strode away to another part of the kitchens. “In Del, people are starving, scrabbling for scraps. And here, good food is wasted!”
    Tira shook her head. “It is not good food,” she insisted earnestly. “The Ra-Kacharz know when food is unclean. By their inspections the Ra-Kacharz protect the people from disease and illness. Noradzeer.”
    Lief would have liked to argue. Jasmine, too, was red with anger. But Barda shook his head at them,warning them to be silent. Lief bit his lips. He knew that Barda was right. They needed Tira’s help. There was no point in upsetting her. She was not to understand how things were in the rest of Deltora. She knew only her place, and the laws with which she had grown up.
    In silence they moved on along the walkway and at last came to the end of the kitchens. Steep metal steps led down to the ground just in front of a door.
    “The Hole is through that door,” Tira said in a low voice. “But —”
    She broke off and crouched once more, gesturing to her companions to do the same. The four cooks who had made the sugared fruits walked into view below, carrying the bin of rejected jars between them. The bin was now sealed tightly with a metal lid. They carried it through the door, and disappeared from sight.
    “They are going to put the bin into the Hole,” Tira whispered.
    A few moments later the cooks came back and walked off to their part of the kitchens to begin the task of preparing food all over again. Tira, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine crept down the steps, passed shelves lined with pots and pans, and slipped through the door.
    They found themselves in a small, bare room. To their left was a red-painted door. Facing them, on the wall opposite the kitchens, a metal grille barred the round, dark entrance to the Hole.
    “Where does the red door lead?” asked Barda.
    “To the sleeping quarters of the Nine,” Tira whispered. “They sleep in turns, it is said, coming through this door when inspections are due.”
    She glanced nervously over her shoulder. “Let us leave here, now. I brought you here because you demanded it. But at any moment we may be surprised.”
    The companions crept closer to the Hole and peered through the grille. Dimly they saw the beginning of a tunnel lined with stone that seemed to gleam red. The tunnel’s roof and sides were rounded. It was very narrow, and sloped down into blackness. Deep within