Inferno by Jo Macauley

Author:Jo Macauley [Macauley, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Curious Fox
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen - Captives

“You’re the one who always comes up with a plan,” Ralph groaned to Beth through the gloom of the tent, trying to get himself into a comfortable position with his bound hands and wrists. “Now would be a good time.”

“Well, obviously we need to free ourselves before we can do anything,” Beth replied. “I’ve been working at my ropes but they’ve done a good job. I’m not making any headway.”

“Polly...?” John was finally coming to his senses and was looking frantically around for a sign of his sister.

“I’m sorry, John – she wasn’t here, and the gang have gone,” Beth told him quietly.

He began to squirm and struggle at his bindings. “We’ve got to get out of here...”

“You don’t say! Maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t gone off yelling—” Ralph began, but a stern look from Beth silenced him.

“You’re right,” John sighed. “It’s my fault. And now we’re losing time.”

“It’s all right,” Beth said determinedly. “We’ll get out of here.” She tried again, but her ropes weren’t getting any looser.

“They knew what they were doing,” said Ralph. “I know knots from my sailing days, and the way they tied us they’ll only get tighter the more you try to pull ’em apart. Let’s start shouting.”

They began to yell for help, but their voices merely mingled in with the background crackle and roar of the distant fire and the babble of anguished voices all over Moorfields.

Ralph sank back dejectedly. “This is useless.”

“No, it’s not,” John insisted. “People always help each other in a crisis – someone’s bound to come eventually.”

But John’s words had given Beth an idea. “Maybe there is something we can do. There was an old preacher who used to come to St Giles’s Church near the Peacock and Pie...”

Ralph groaned. “God isn’t going to send an angel down to untie us, no matter how hard we pray.”

“No, it’s nothing like that. This preacher used to bore everyone to death, but there was one story he told I’ve always remembered. A man died and ended up in Hell, but there were no flames, no tortures or people in agony. However, everyone was very thin and racked with hunger, even though there was a table laden with every type of food you could imagine. Then he discovered the catch. The Devil only allowed them to eat with a fork about five foot long...”

“So long you couldn’t put any food in your mouth,” John interjected. “But what good is that to us?”

“I haven’t finished!”

“Get on with it, then!” Ralph said impatiently.

Beth sighed and carried on quickly. “God realizes he’s made a mistake. The man should have gone to Heaven, so he sends for him. When he gets there, he’s puzzled because it looks exactly like Hell, even down to the five-foot forks.”

“I hope this is leading somewhere useful,” Ralph muttered.

“But the people in Heaven weren’t starving – they were well fed and happy!”

“The angels flew down and fed them?”

“Enough of your angels!” Beth chided him.

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