Chapter 13

ARCHIE AND HOUNDSTOOTH made their way to the hippo paddock in silence as the stars began to wink out. When they arrived at the paddock, Ruby, Rosa, Abigail, and Betsy were already nosing at each other, competing for attention at the dock.

Archie pulled up short.

“’Oundstooth?” She said. “What—ah, what should we do about Abigail and Betsy?”

“We can’t leave them,” he replied. “Hero will want to see Abigail when they wake up.”

“Do you think they’ll follow us, like Stasia and Zahra?”

“If they do, they’ll make a decent rear guard, if any ferals try to sneak up on us. I suppose there’s only one way to find out.” He shrugged. Archie looked at him strangely. “What?”

“Nothing,” she replied. “I’ve just never seen you shrug before. It does not look right on you, ’oundstooth.”

Fortunately, Abigail and Betsy did indeed trail behind Ruby and Rosa as they made their way to the Gate—following the trail of apples that Houndstooth dropped into the water every few minutes. Archie stifled a laugh when she noticed him doing it.

“Where did you get those?” she asked.

“I like to be prepared, Archie,” he replied, his voice dripping with condescension.

“ . . . Did you steal them from my saddlebag?”

Houndstooth took his time before answering. “Hero ate all my pears,” he said in an even tone. Then he snapped the side of Ruby’s harness, and the two of them sped ahead toward the Gate.

* * *

“So: we open the Gate, we hit the detonator. The ferals flood the Gate while we watch from a safe distance. We close the Gate. Très facile.” Archie had repeated the plan six or seven times on the way over. Every time, she proclaimed how easy it would be to execute.

“Très,” Houndstooth replied, having heard hardly a word of what she’d said. He watched the water as they travelled, but it was still and silent save for the occasional grumbles of the four hippos and their two riders.

And it was très facile. No ferals bothered them as they made their way from the Sturgess Queen to the Gate, though their bellows floated through the still night air like thunder from where they were gathered in the muddy center of the lake.

Archie and Houndstooth reached the Gate without incident. The ranger’s familiar, broad-brimmed hat was silhouetted in the grey light of the early morning. Houndstooth called up to the tower.

“Hello up there! Can you open the Gate?” Houndstooth called. “Official government business.”

The ranger didn’t respond. Houndstooth repeated his request. When he received no response, he looked at Archie. She shrugged.

“Perhaps ’e is asleep? Surely we could go up and wake ’im.”

Ruby, however, refused to approach the ranger’s tower. She balked and danced, avoiding the place where the tower ladder met the water.