The Deptford Mice 2: The Crystal Prison Read Online Free Page A

He sprang to his feet, then in one swift movement snatched a small stone off the ground and flung it into the air.
    Up shot the stone into the canopy of rhododendron. A surprised yell came from the leaves. Thomas jumped nimbly to one side and with a crash of twigs a grey lump dropped to the ground.
    ‘Oh, oh!’ cried the furry bundle in panic.
    ‘Peace squire!’ calmed Thomas. ‘We have no time for your formalities today. Forgive me for speeding up the proceedings.’
    Twit stared at the terrified squirrel before them. It was young and its tail was strong and bushy. The squirrel’s face was small but his large black eyes seemed to be popping out of his head. He looked at the three mice in fright.
    Thomas waited for him to find his voice, making no effort to conceal his impatience during the squirrel’s stammerings.
    ‘But . . . but . . .’ the squirrel began, ‘three . . . there are three of you – we . . . I . . . thought there would be only two.’ He regarded Twit uneasily.
    ‘This is my good young matey William Scuttle,’ Thomas roared in a voice that made the squirrel shrink away. ‘Where I go, he goes.’ He laid his paw firmly on the fieldmouse’s shoulder.
    ‘She won’t like this . . . she won’t like this – not at all, no.’
    ‘That’s enough!’ rapped Thomas. ‘I’ll face whatever squalls she throws my way but we’ll not sit here becalmed by your dithering. Lead us and have done.’
    ‘The . . . the girl first,’ instructed the squirrel timidly. ‘The mouse maiden is to follow me.’
    Audrey nearly laughed at the anxious grey figure which hesitated and twitched before her, but she remembered her manners and tried to remain serious. She stepped in line behind her escort.
    ‘Good . . . good,’ he muttered, and with a jerk of his tail he bounded through the bushes. The mice followed him as quickly as they could.
    Into the leafy clumps they ran and there, in the shadows, were a dozen other squirrels all fluttering and trembling with fright. Their escort was laying into them as the mice approached.
    ‘Why didn’t you?’ he scolded the others crossly. ‘Leaving me all alone to deal with them.’
    ‘Well we weren’t to know,’ they answered meekly. ‘But you did so very well Piers,’ some added. ‘Sshh, here they are now.’ They fell back as the mice entered.
    ‘Ermm . . . this way,’ the escort said shakily and he set off again.
    The crowd of squirrels watched them leave and they turned to one another tut-tutting. ‘She won’t like that will she? Three of them, I ask you. He ought to have said something. The look that little fellow gave you . . . little savages they are . . . makes me shiver all over. Who’s going to tell her then? Don’t be soft – you know she doesn’t need us to tell her anything, she has her own ways of finding things out.’
    Audrey followed the escort’s bushy tail as it bobbed before her. Through lanes of leaves it led her, under arches of twining roots and past startled squirrel sentries who disappeared in a flash of grey. The bushes grew thicker overhead and no daylight filtered down. Suddenly a great oak tree appeared at the end of the green tunnel and the escort vanished down a dark cleft in the trunk.
    Audrey paused, wondering how far down the drop was. She braced herself and with her eyes closed tightly leapt into the black hole.
    Down she plunged until she landed with a soft jolt on a bundle of dry leaves and ferns. Audrey rolled to one side as Twit came down, whistling and laughing.
    ‘It smells in here,’ sniffed Audrey.
    ‘Only oak wood and leaf mould,’ said Twit, staggering to his feet.
    They were in the base of the old oak’s trunk, hollowed out by years of squirrel labour. Small wooden bowls hung on the walls and these were filled with burning oils. The light they gave off was silver and flickering, illuminating the smooth worn oak with gentle, dancing waves.
    ‘It’s as cold as the sewers down here,’ shivered Audrey.
    Twit