The Secret Invasion of Port Isabel (10 page)

‘Let’s take
shelter and see if the others are back yet,’ said Flossy. The
brightly lit windows of the Stinging Nettle beckoned invitingly.
‘If they’re not there we should be able to watch for them easily
enough from inside.’

Reginald
followed Flossy, his trunk swinging sadly. Flossy reached up and
held the tip of his ear. There was nothing she could think to say
that would help.

When she
entered the café, the whole town seemed to be packed inside.
Animals of every House squawked, hooted and grunted nosily as they
hoed into overflowing bowls and over-stacked plates. There was
pizza and pasta, soup and stew, chips and chocolate. There were
also troughs full of grains like barley, oats and straw.

Three
seemingly identical lemur waiters with black and white striped
tails looked professionally frantic as they ducked under the belly
of a giraffe straddling the aisle. They were balancing giant ice
cream sundaes on wooden trays. The noises, smells and enthusiasm
produced in Flossy a powerful hunger and she licked her lips in
anticipation.

An enormous
snake, its body as thick as a tree trunk, lowered itself from the
rafters so that its head was level with Flossy’s. Instinctively she
stepped back and half drew her sword from its scabbard. Judging on
its size it could easily swallow her whole.

‘Flossy
Fairweather, I presume,’ it said, hissing, tongue flicking. Its
glassy black eyes didn’t blink. There was fierce intelligence
there.

Flossy slid
her sword back and rested her hand on the pommel. ‘You surprised
me, dropping down like that,’ she said.

‘I’ll be your
waiter this afternoon; that is if you don’t object?’ said the snake
as he lowered his head to study her sword. His forked tongue
flicked noiselessly.

‘Why should I
object?’ asked Flossy, voice breaking. She adjusted her sword belt
so her sword hung behind her.

The snake
tightened its coils in the creaking rafters, its arrow head swaying
menacingly as if it was sizing her up. ‘Some of the
bite-sized
animals in Port Isabel feel uncomfortable being
so close to my kind. I can’t imagine why. Come this way, pleasssse.
I see a table by the window has just become free.’

‘I’m dining
with a large friend. He’s waiting outside,’ said Flossy.

‘Ah, two
celebrates for lunch,
delicious
! The Stinging Nettle is
indeed blessed. There’s a booth free in the corner, I think. I will
open a window for Mr Elephant.’

‘You know
him?’ Flossy asked. She followed the snake as he wove himself
through the rafters above. Animals stopped eating and watched her
warily or with intense curiosity as she passed their tables.

‘Yes, I know
him. He’s one of the mammals that everyone but me seems to be able
to
stomach
,’ said the snake, a death-gleam in his unblinking
eyes.

As the snake
adjusted the bench seat to suit her body-dimensions she kept a wary
eye on the deadly creature. Though she didn’t show it, it was
unnerving to be so close to something that could easily swallow her
whole.

When she was
seated, the snake drew back the window shutters. Flossy could just
make out the museum ruins through the thick fog. The others hadn’t
yet returned.

Reginald
swayed as he approached the open window.

‘Good evening,
sssssir,’ said the snake.

Coldness
entered Reginald’s eyes and his face paled. ‘I heard you were back,
Iscariot. And you’re working here?’ he asked. There was no warmth
in his voice.

‘It’s
gratifying that one so great deigns to notice the comings and
goings of a lowly waiter,’ said the snake disingenuously. ‘Yes, I’m
back and may settle down this time. It’s warm here and I find I’ve
developed an
appetite
for the good folk of Port Isabel.’

Flossy could
see Iscariot’s double meaning was not lost on Reginald. But instead
of rising to the bait he turned to Flossy and said: ‘Many years ago
Iscariot Snake was a pupil of mine; when I was just starting out as
a teacher, in fact. Later he fell under suspicion for a possible
association with the Troubles.’

‘Troubles?’
said Flossy, leaning forward.

‘And here… are
your menus,’ said the big snake, interrupting with a rude hiss.

Flossy
accepted hers but the snake tossed Reginald’s carelessly on the
windowsill as he drew back into the rafters. It fell outside before
Reginald could grab it with his trunk.

Having fallen
in a puddle at his feet, the pages were stuck together and there
was mud on the cover. His big eyes were sad and disappointed.

‘Here, please
use mine. I’ll get another,’ said Flossy, sliding her menu across
the table.

Before
Reginald could thank her or object, Flossy slid from her seat to
hunt down the snake. She caught up with him at a nearby table. He
was taking an order from a gorilla wearing a sling; the same she
had tricked, as it happened; the same she had seen in the Hall of
Deliberation standing guard at the doors.

A swift kick
to Iscariot’s belly caught his attention. The big snake swung about
lightning-fast, his mouth open and fangs barred in reflex. Her
sword was already drawn and pressing against the big snake’s
throat.

‘I bet I’m
faster,’ said Flossy, grinning fiercely.

The café fell
silent and time seemed to slow to a crawl. She could see that
Iscariot was fighting instinct; that he wanted to strike. If he did
her sword would cut him but wouldn’t stop him.

Perhaps she
had pushed him too far.

Oblivious to
the unfolding drama, a baby gorilla sitting at the table next to
her made a noisy slurp as she finished the dregs of her banana
milkshake.

Then the
gorilla with the sling stood and gently pushed aside Flossy’s
sword. ‘This is not the time or the place,’ he said quietly.

‘We would like
a new menu, please,’ said Flossy to Iscariot Snake, through gritted
teeth. She lowered and sheathed her sword.

‘I will be
with you presently, Miss Fairweather,’ said the snake with a
professional smile. He turned back to the table of gorillas as if
nothing had happened. ‘Now, I think I should bring out another
banana milkshake for your
scrumptious
little daughter.
Yes?’

Flossy
returned to her table and slid to the middle of the bench seat so
she directly faced Reginald. The fog had thickened further but she
could see enough to know that Harry, Sally and Stanley hadn’t yet
returned.

‘I think I’ll
have the barely cakes and perhaps a barrel of apple cider,’
Reginald pondered out loud. ‘Would you like to see the menu?’ He
clearly wasn’t aware of her confrontation with Iscariot.

‘Harry hasn’t
returned yet,’ she said. She accepted the menu from Reginald. ‘He
seems like a punctual kind of possum. Do you think he’s okay?’

Reginald
ponderously turned, then turned back to face Flossy. ‘I’ll go and
see if anyone knows anything. Please order for me, I’ll be back in
a jiffy.’

She watched
Reginald trundle off into the fog then opened the menu. It was
divided into categories based on animal type and size. It must be
difficult for the café to cater for so many different kinds of
appetites. The section for medium-sized mammals looked the most
promising. The pancake stack with cherry glaze looked good; so did
the minestrone soup served with a freshly baked bread.

A menu slammed
into hers from above. She looked up sharply.

‘Your menu,
Miss Human,’ said the huge snake hanging above her. Iscariot Snake
lowered his head so it was level with hers. His blood-red tongue
flicked out menacingly. His breath was putrid, like rotting
fish.

‘Now, may I
take your order?’ he asked.

‘You know,’
said Flossy, ‘you really should use breath freshener.’

‘There is only
one thing I want to put in my mouth,’ said Iscariot, nostrils
flaring, an evil gleam in his onyx eyes.

She was about
to explain that some people considered roast snake a delicacy in
Australia when she heard an elephant trumpeting from somewhere
across the Square.

Reginald!

Flossy pushed
the snake’s head roughly aside, leapt through the open window and
ran through the swirling fog towards Town Hall. Her sword was
already drawn.

_CHAPTER
11

_{CHASING RHINOS}

Flossy hadn’t quite
reached Town Hall when a herd of rhinos went thundering by.

‘Hey, stop!’
she yelled. ‘Stop I say. What’s happening?’

The rhinos
didn’t stop so Flossy turned and sprinted after them. Their fierce,
serious expressions made her sure they would be heading for the
action, which is where she could be most help.

Animals
jogging towards Town Hall—made curious by Reginald’s trumpeting, no
doubt—made way as she hurtled across Town Square after the rhinos.
She leapt over two slow moving crocodiles as she rounded the Heat
Tree, its hot coral branches fizzing and hissing at the touch of
raindrops condensing from the fog.

She
cannonballed past a large group of surprised school excursion
students being herded out of harm’s way by two worried looking
camel-teachers. The ground was slippery and the foggy conditions
made running treacherous but this didn’t slow Flossy down in the
slightest—there was action afoot and she didn’t want to miss
it.

She lost sight
of the rhinos as they passed the Stinging Nettle and turned onto
Zigzag Road. That’s where the action would be, she was sure of it.
She followed them, nearly slipping as she careened around the
corner.

As she ran
down the long hill and bounced through the switchbacks Flossy kept
an eye out for Harry and the others but saw no sign of them. They
were to look for pirates below the Square while she and Reginald
looked above. Perhaps the rhinos were running to help them fight
cornered pirates. She hoped she wouldn’t be too late to join the
fray. She would love to face the dogs, a sword in her hand and
friends at her back, the numbers more evenly balanced. It was easy
to have courage in a pack. Would they cower and whine or run and
hide if they were outnumbered? Now, that would be something to
see!

Flossy was
breathless when she finally reached Gateway Quay and her foot hurt;
she had stubbed a big toe on an uneven cobblestone. The rhinos had
arrived well before her. She could hear their snorts and
hoof-clatter on the timber boards further down.

She jogged
with a limp under the old stone gateway, slowed at a work shed
bulging with rhinos and drew her bright sword. Two of the rhinos
wouldn’t fit so their rumps poked out like leathery pillows and she
had to push in between them.

Somewhere at
the back of the shed, behind the hull of an upturned boat
surrounded by wood shavings, two rhinos were arguing.

‘No, I can’t
do that. You put your hoof there and I’ll wriggle this bit with my
horn,’ said one Rhino, annoyed.

‘I can’t see
in this light. Step sideways, will you,’ said the other. ‘You know
my eyes have never been good in the dark.’

‘Ouch, you
pushed me onto a nail or something,’ said the first. ‘They’re all
over the floor.’

‘Sorry. I’ve
got my horn in, so you pull… okay?’

There was a
muffled struggle and some frustrated huffing.

‘No, not like
that, move around to that side.’

Flossy pushed
to the front. ‘Can I help?’ she asked.

‘Oh, it’s the
human! These knots are… difficult and you’ve got fingers.’

The big rhinos
moved aside, revealing Stanley fettered and tied securely to a
roughhewn timber stanchion that held up the roof. A potato sack was
on this head.

‘Stanley! What
have they done to you?’ she cried, reaching up and removing the
sack.

‘I was… I was
screaming my-my-myself horse... They’ve taken Harry and Sally!’ he
said.

‘Pirates?’ she
asked.

Stanley nodded
vigorously.

‘When?’

‘At least an
hour, an hour ago. M-May-Maybe more. They’ll be well gone by now,
I...’ Stanley looked away and drew a deep breath to steady his
stuttering, one eye twitching. He turned back, looked at Flossy and
said slowly, carefully: ‘They had a plan. And they knew… they knew
who Harry was.’

‘Where’s
Larry?’ asked Flossy.

She put down
her sword and untied Stanley as quickly as she could.

‘I don’t, I
don’t know.’

‘We know,’
said one of the rhinos. Like the others, he had thick, grey,
leathery skin and dangerous-looking horns armoured with bright
metal. ‘Larry Monkey’s at Town Hall.’

‘Well at least
he’s okay,’ said Flossy. She finished untying Stanley. Even in the
dim light of the shed she could see dark red welts were he had been
straining against his restraints.