Mice of Marrero (eBook)

Part I

Matt Tausch (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
332 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
9781733889209 (ISBN)

Infos

Welcome to the Nohrlands, a stone city built by an advanced race of powerful beings called the Ancients. The Ancients built our world. They raised our great city up from the swamp. They planted the Kingsland, a garden of stone monoliths so tall they scrape the sky. And they breathed life into us and blessed us with the gift of intelligent thought. Then, they left, traveling across the Forever Bridge to worlds unknown. But we remained. My name is Jasper, and I live with my fellow orphans in a small, far-flung village south of the Great River. Life can be a struggle at times, scrounging for food in the dank ruins of a once-thriving metropolis. Avoiding the snakes that lurk in the shadows of the decrepit buildings while watching the skies for the fearsome birds of prey that roost in the rooftops. And to make matters worse, the warlord, Napoleon, is on the move, scouring this great city for a rumored relic of the Ancients powerful enough to wipe out me and my kind. Napoleon's desperate search for his prize has led him to our little village, where he has captured the village elders and tortured my friend and mentor, Dr. Long, for the whereabouts of the Ark. I'm very scared now, imprisoned away from the village in one of Napoleon's lonely jails, but I must fortify my resolve. For Dr. Long instilled in me the belief that even the meekest of us can make a profound difference in this world. Even a lowly mouse such as myself. For my father belonged to a secret society sworn to protect the Ark. The mysterious order known as... The Mice of Marrero.

I am Matt Tausch, an aspiring author and animator. I work under the title of sole animator at my burgeoning animation company, Rain Dance Productions. A graduate of film school at the University of Southern Mississippi with a minor in art, I've been striving and working towards my goals and dreams of being an independent author and animator for as long as I've been around. I've spent my first years after college perfecting my craft as a screenwriter. After Hurricane Katrina completely shot me off track, I've relocated to Austin, TX, where I continue living and working to achieve my goals. I've dabbled in live-action film-making, storyboarding, graphic novels, animation, and writing.

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Welcome to the Nohrlands, a stone city built by an advanced race of powerful beings called the Ancients. The Ancients built our world. They raised our great city up from the swamp. They planted the Kingsland, a garden of stone monoliths so tall they scrape the sky. And they breathed life into us and blessed us with the gift of intelligent thought. Then, they left, traveling across the Forever Bridge to worlds unknown. But we remained. My name is Jasper, and I live with my fellow orphans in a small, far-flung village south of the Great River. Life can be a struggle at times, scrounging for food in the dank ruins of a once-thriving metropolis. Avoiding the snakes that lurk in the shadows of the decrepit buildings while watching the skies for the fearsome birds of prey that roost in the rooftops. And to make matters worse, the warlord, Napoleon, is on the move, scouring this great city for a rumored relic of the Ancients powerful enough to wipe out me and my kind. Napoleon's desperate search for his prize has led him to our little village, where he has captured the village elders and tortured my friend and mentor, Dr. Long, for the whereabouts of the Ark. I'm very scared now, imprisoned away from the village in one of Napoleon's lonely jails, but I must fortify my resolve. For Dr. Long instilled in me the belief that even the meekest of us can make a profound difference in this world. Even a lowly mouse such as myself. For my father belonged to a secret society sworn to protect the Ark. The mysterious order known as... The Mice of Marrero. "e;The Mice of Marrero"e; is a sweeping epic on a very small scale. It follows Jasper and his patchwork band of survivors as they must keep one step ahead of a merciless warlord hellbent on finding his prize. A story of great courage in the face of massive adversity. A story to remind us all that even the smallest mouse can make a difference. A fantasy novel that can be enjoyed by all ages. My first novel ten years in the making. This is "e;The Mice of Marrero."e; Part I.

Textauszug

Chapter 1

 

The sun beats down on the Nohrlands, an immense swamp-city curled like a sleeping infant around the bottom of the great Ocean of the Ancients. On a typical, spring day like this, one would expect to see the streets bustling with activity. Cars would jam the freeways and avenues, angry horns blasting to spur on traffic. People would litter the sidewalks like ants, hurrying along with errands and deadlines. Cafe and bar doors would be open and inviting, lively music seeping out and mingling with the chatter of passer-byes on the sidewalks. A fervor of frenzied activity as tens of thousands of people mingle and mix. A vibrant city buzzing with life.

But now, the streets are silent.

Empty tables wait patiently in the open-air cafes. A few chairs stand at their tables, but most lie neglected on the floor. Abandoned cars in haphazard lines rust in the streets. The beige stone of the urban landscape is green with mold as ivy climbs the walks and weeds invade the streets. The pulsing heart of this thriving metropolis has seemingly died.

But life continues on.

Scaly logs bend and drift though the great river that winds through the city. Scavenging crows and bumbling pigeons fly through the open doors of the vacant cafes. Ants, beetles, and bugs crawl through the dank remains of the multitude of houses that spread to the horizon. A great buzzard patrols the sky, searching the ground for a carcass to pick. Life goes on.

A large mouse with a dark, chocolate brown coat peeks out from the thick grass stands and surveys the stretch of cracked, black asphalt for predators. His nervous eyes lift up to check the skies. All seems safe as the mouse peers through the thick grass that lines the opposite side of the road. The grass sways and writhes as heat rising off the street distorts his vision.

All clear, the mouse scurries out from the grass. The blistering pavement bites at his toes as he rushes across the blacktop. The little mouse reaches the opposite side and dashes into the thick grass.

The ground rises up at this point in a hill that follows the road. The little mouse hurries up the hill and dashes through the grass, following the road along the side of the hill. The mouse hurries along until he reaches a rusted, inter-linking metal fence that lines one edge of the long hill. The mouse follows the fence until he comes to a point where a fallen telephone pole has split the fence in twain.

The mouse stands on two legs and presses his paws into the fallen pole. His claws dig into the soft wood, slippery with green mold and lichen. The little mouse climbs up.

The fallen pole lays against the grass and extends over the crest of the hill. The mouse climbs up the pole, digging his claws deeper into the wood as the ground below falls away to still, dark water. The wind whips at the little mouse as he sits perched on the summit of the fallen tree. The mouse sits on his haunches and deeply breathes in the musty air as the small canal swirls lazily beneath him.

"Be careful, Mr. Jasper," a squeaky, little voice calls out from below.

The mouse's eyes search the banks of the canal. The fence that climbs the hill to the canal continues down an identical hill on the opposite bank. A grey, shimmering wall cuts across the canal to impede the river, but a massive collection of trees and branches pushes against it. Part of the gate has broken off and leans slanted over, pushed mercilessly by the current. Further up the waterway, an immense railroad bridge stands forever stuck in its upward position, like an impossibly large tree stump with dual, metal creepers running up its flat spine. Beyond that, the stone road bursts through the bank and stretches across to the other side of the canal.

Jasper's eyes continue to search the bank. On the opposite side near the fence, where a mold-encrusted building stands on a cement base, three tiny mice watch him with enraptured eyes. The tiniest of the three, a mocha-colored mouse in a tattered, navy blue dress, stands on the corner of the cement base. Tesh cringes, a black, sable bundle clenched against her chest.

Jasper chuckles and waves his hand for reassurance. Even from his high vantage point, he can see Tesh's fear crack into a smile.

Jasper frowns as his hand drops to his side. He counts three children peering up at him from the shore, but there should be four. Where's Tibido?

Jasper studies the base of the building where the other children watch. Tesh stands on the edge of the cement slab, hopping with anxiety. Marcel and Deuce stand huddled in the shade of the building. His eyes scan the walk that extends from the building and follows the bank to the stone bridge, but Tibido is nowhere to be seen. Where could he be?

Jasper softly chuckles as a thought occurs to him. His eyes move across the river to his own bank. Sure enough. There's Tibido, standing at the base of his fallen tree. The small, caramel-colored mouse stares up the length of the pole with envious eyes.

Jasper shakes his head as his gaze sweeps back to the opposite shore. Over the crown of trees that grow along the far edge of the hill, he can see the veritable sea of roofs that spread out endlessly along the southern shore of the great river.

Can he locate his own home from here? His own little village of New Hope from the discernible sea of houses? He has an idea of where it may be, but this vantage point is rare for a mouse who has spent his young life scurrying through the grass. Perhaps that's why he enjoys coming up to this lookout point so often. Jasper loves sitting on the tip of this immense, fallen tree and feeling the wind whip at his body and caress the fur on his face. The unwritten law of his society states that a lone mouse shouldn't stand alone and exposed, but he can't help himself. It's another unwritten mouse law that the young should always challenge the laws of the elders. How else will they learn? At least, that's what Dr. Long has always told him. And Dr. Long is one of the elders of the town. Actually, he's the elder. The founder of New Hope. And Jasper's father.

Not by blood, though. Jasper's biological father died when he was barely a year old. Jasper Sr. and Dr. Garret Long had met in their impressionable adolescent years and grown inseparable. When Jasper Sr. died, Dr. Long had taken Jasper in and raised him as his own.

Jasper glances down the fallen tree. Tibido has climbed up the pole to the point where it has broken through the fence. Jasper smiles as the little mouse musters up the courage and climbs further up the tree. The wind pushes fiercely against Jasper's body, nearly blowing him off his perch. Does Tibido have the strength to steady himself on the trunk? He doesn't want to tell him to quit climbing. That might as well be a dare to climb all the way to the top. Tibido has always been keen to follow Jasper's footsteps. Sometimes quite literally.

Jasper sighs. "That's far enough, Tib."

He twists around as he repositions himself for the climb down. A blast of wind suddenly whips at Jasper's body, pushing him to the edge of the slimy pole. Jasper's nails claw at the muddy trunk, but the soggy bark gives way as his body slides over the edge.

Jasper feels the cool rush of wind as he plummets down. He hears Tesh's shrill shriek as she disappears behind the hill. He drops into the canal as the warm water envelopes him. He sinks deep down into the muddy water. Jasper kicks and digs at the water until his head breaks through the surface. He spits the filthy water from his mouth as he draws in gulps of air. His slimy fur sticks against his skin.

His eyes follow up the line of the steep bank to the three children hopping in excitement as they peer over the edge. Tesh shakes and shrieks frantically as Marcel, the tallest of the bunch, leans over the edge and points across into the canal. Jasper follows his direction.

A large, brown, lumpy log drifts away from the shade of the broken gate. Two dark, yellow-green slits stare at Jasper from the top of the log. Water laps against a jagged row of glistening teeth.

The gator pushes swiftly as Jasper leaps in the water and paddles frantically towards the shore. The mucky water shoots up Jasper's nose and into his face as he slaps at the river, desperate to reach the wall of the bank. The gator closes in on the little mouse with a lackadaisical swish of its tail.

Jasper feverishly kicks at the water, with every stroke praying he touches the solid wall. Water splashes in his eyes. How close is he? Jasper stretches his arm out and reaches. Still nothing. The gator must nearly be on him.

His muscles burn. Water sloshes down his open mouth. Jasper kicks at the water and stretches his palm ahead. He reaches. His hand suddenly slaps against the solid curtain of vines that reaches into the water. Jasper grasps a handful of vines and pulls himself against the side.

Jasper checks over his shoulder. The nose of the gator rushes towards him as the great beast pushes itself to the surface. Jasper presses against the clammy wall when he sees it, a wooden shaft whistling through the air. It arches through the sky and plants itself into the gator's right eye. The angry reptile thrashes in the river and snaps at the air as blood dribbles down from the punctured socket.

Jasper's grip tightens around the vines and he pulls himself out the river as the gator writhes violently behind him. As Jasper scales the wall, the gator's good eye catches sight of him. Jasper pauses as the gator goes still in the water. Jasper scrambles up the wall as the gator swiftly cuts through the water after him. The three children lean over the edge and reach...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 31.12.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kinder- / Jugendbuch
• ISBN-13: 9781733889209 / 9781733889209