Night gate by Isobelle Carmody

Author:Isobelle Carmody
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: & Magic, Action & Adventure - General, Children: Grades 3-4, Magic, Action & Adventure, Science Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Children's Books, Children: Grades 4-6, Fiction, Fantasy, Wizards, Fantasy & Magic, Ages 9-12 Fiction, Mothers and daughters, Animals, General, Dogs
ISBN: 9780375830174
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2006-05-23T07:00:00+00:00

Instead of Niadne or one of the other attendants, a gray-eyed girl only a few years older than Rage entered.

“We meet again,” she said.

Rage was startled to recognize the voice of the youngest of the three guardians who had been in the cart that brought the little girls to Fork. Last time they met she had been masked in the white paint that made her teeth look yellow, and she had seemed much older.

“You are…Ania?” Rage said.

“You have a good memory, Rage Winnoway. I have come to help you escape the banding house. But we must make haste, for the blackshirts will soon arrive to check the names against their list of all who dwell here.”

“Niadne has written down my name already, and the blackshirts have it, too.”

Ania smiled. “I can do nothing about the blackshirt list, but names in Niadne’s book do not necessarily remain there. As long as we hurry, the blackshirts will never know you were here. Quickly, gather your belongings.”

“You work for the keepers!” Rage accused.

“I may work here, but I assure you that I do not serve the High Keeper or his minions.”

Rage hesitated. The last time she had accepted an offer of help from a stranger, she had ended up in Valley. On the other hand, she would be a fool not to jump at the chance to be free of the banding house. She dragged her coat on over the gray shift and gently bundled up the rest of her clothes. Despite her care, Mr. Walker groaned. “Where are we going?” she asked quickly, to cover the noise.

Ania was not listening. She walked over to the nearest wall and peered at the seam where it joined the floor. Glancing in both directions first, she knelt and pressed her palms flat to the floor. Rage could see no lever or button, yet there must have been one, for a section of the floor slid soundlessly aside, revealing a set of rough-hewn steps leading down into darkness.

“Where do they go?” Rage asked.

“Down,” said Ania. She might have said more, but they heard footsteps coming along the corridor. “Quick!” she hissed urgently, slipping into the opening. Rage followed, and the moment she was clear, the floor above slid shut, leaving her standing in pitch blackness.

Several sets of boots sounded directly overhead, and gradually the voices of their owners became audible.

“…latest arrivals have been fitted with their banding gowns and are now practicing their movements for the ceremony.” It was Niadne. Rage tensed, but her name was not mentioned.

When the boots and voices had faded away, Ania’s hand pressed at her shoulder. “Make no sound as you climb down, for this stairway runs by places where we could be heard.” She sounded breathless and apprehensive, which did much to reassure Rage that she was not working for the keepers.

The steps led to a tunnel, which led to more steps and finally to some kind of cellar. Ania bade her wait. A thick, dank odor rose in her nostrils, as if Ania had opened a trap door in the very earth.

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