The House of a Hundred Animals by Jackie French

Author:Jackie French
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ligature Pty Limited
Published: 2021-11-09T09:45:40+00:00

Chapter 8

Search For The Golden Plain

They stayed in the walled garden for six nights, sleeping through the heat of the day and the dark of the night, till the moon was as round as a wombat berry again. Desert Wind spread slices of cooked sweet potato out to crisp in the sun, and nettle and wild spinach leaves to crumble into a green, vitamin-rich powder that could easily be added to soups and stews on their journey.

After their first visit to the garden, Dommy and the lions stayed outside. The lions slept in the shade of the walls, hunting only once, guarding their meat between their paws as the flies hummed round the bones. Dommy slept and lived with the lions, joining the others only for the main meal of the day.

On the afternoon of the sixth day they packed to leave. The cool stone kitchen seemed friendlier now.

‘As though it’s happy to have people living in it again,’ said Possum. She felt the weight of her pack pulling on her back again, checked Jark’s carrying pouch was safe, then took a last look around the room. Leaf shadows danced on the floor. She imagined Janlee’s footsteps crossing it for the last time.

‘There’Il be people here again,’ said Desert Wind. ‘Once we tell them it’s here, other Collectors can follow. This is a good place to rest.’

‘We should give it a name,’ suggested Mopoke. ‘So you can put it on the map at the Collector’s Station when you write about our journey.’

‘What should we call it?’

‘Stone House?’

‘Rest and Be Thankful,’ said Possum.

‘That’s a good name,’ said Desert Wind. She shut the thick wood door and bolted it behind them.

Mopoke thought of Janlee’s book, closed now and wrapped in soft skin for protection. They had considered taking it with them, but their journey was too uncertain, and the book too precious. It was best left where it had been safe all these years.

They walked through the shadowed afternoon, shimmering with the final heat of the day. The lions padded in front of them, the lioness first, with Dommy riding Lun behind. They walked as darkness sank into the sand, as the pale moon drew itself across the sky.

The country began to change again. There were more hills now, hard-baked and streaked with small erosion gullies. Some hilltops had a few straggly trees perched between tall boulders that sheltered their roots from sun and wind.

They walked through long hot nights and slept through hotter days. The moon began to shrink again, till only a small slice was left at dawn. They ate the last of the dried sweet potatoes and nuts from the garden. Sometimes it seemed as though the garden and the stone house had been just a dream. Yet their own steps seemed to echo Janlee’s journey, pushing through the harsh dry land, hoping for a gentler place—and for people.

On the tenth night since they had left the garden the dry ground began to rise, steeper and steeper as the night went on.

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