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

pinch of crystals into the water ahead, and, after a moment, more lumps broke the surface of the river and another path began to clear for them.

    The crossing of Broad River was a strange, frightening journey. In all their minds was the thought of what would happen if the trembling walls that held back the river should fail. The great press of water would close over them. There would be no escape.
    The swollen Water Eaters blocked their view as they crept along, twisting and turning, their feet sinking into the soft mud. Lief was just beginning to worry that the crystals in the tin box would run out before they reached the shore, when suddenly the shore was before him, and he was clambering up onto a harsh, dry plain.
    He stood with Barda and Jasmine, staring.
    The plain lay in the bend of the river. It was encircled by water on three sides, and should have been lush and fertile. But not a blade of grass softened its hard, baked clay. As far as the eye could see there was no sign of any living, growing thing.
    In the center was a city whose towers shone dark red in the last rays of the setting sun. Though it was so far away, a feeling of evil and menace seemed to stream from it like vapor.
    They left the river and began to move over the bare plain. The sky arched over them, red and lowering. From above, thought Lief suddenly, we must look like ants — three tiny, crawling ants. One blow would kill us all. Never had he felt so exposed to danger.
    Kree felt it, too. He sat motionless on Jasmine’s shoulder. Filli was huddled inside her jacket, only his small nose visible. But even their company could not help Jasmine. Her feet dragged. She began to walk more and more slowly, and at last, as the sun began to sink below the horizon, she shuddered and stopped.
    “I am sorry,” she muttered. “The barrenness of this place is death to me. I cannot bear it.”
    Her face was white and set. Her hands were shaking. Lief and Barda glanced at each other.
    “Only now I was thinking that we should soon stop for the night,” said Barda, though Lief doubted this was true. “We must rest, and eat. And I do not think the city is a place to enter in darkness.”
    They sat down together and began unpacking their food, but there were no sticks to make a fire.
    “Now is a good time to try Tom’s fire-making beads,” said Lief, following Barda’s lead and trying to be cheerful. In the failing light, he read the instructions on the jar. Then he put one of the beads on the ground and hit it sharply with their digging tool. Immediately, it burst into flames. Lief added another bead and it, too, flared up. Soon there was a merry blaze that apparently needed no other fuel. He pushed the jar into his pocket, well-satisfied.
    “Instant comfort. Amazing!” said Barda heartily. “A villain Tom may be, but at least the things he sells are worth their price.”
    It was still early, but Barda and Lief spread their supplies around them and made much of deciding what they would eat. They added water to one of the flat white rounds of No Bakes and watched it swell quickly into a loaf of bread. They cut the bread into slices and toasted it, eating it with some of the dried berries, nuts, and honey they had carried from Raladin.
    “A feast,” said Barda contentedly, and Lief was relieved to see that Jasmine’s tense face was beginning to relax. As they had hoped, the warmth, light, and food were giving her comfort.
    He gazed over her shoulder at the distant city. The red light was fading from its towers now. Hulked on the plain, it stood silent, grim, deserted….
    Lief blinked. The last rays of the sun were playing tricks with his eyes. For a moment it had seemed as though the earth around the city were moving like water.
    He looked again, and frowned in puzzlement. The plain was moving. Yet there was no grass to bend in the wind. No leaves to blow across the clay. What …?
    Then, suddenly, he saw. “Barda!” he said huskily.
    He saw Barda look