STARGAZER BURROW WALLABY LLAGE viAGE PLATYus BAT CAVE THE OUTBACK MOUNTAINS AppER AND ENCAMP Pion RRANGOBILLY CAVES AP OF THE AND SURROUNDINGS
All RST is No O ADA MONTON RELEASE DAREL ATHER RFOLDS OF THE BABLt stARCA PIPP OLAND 00RAH IS YOUNG PARR OOR AT AMAN ADLut of PLAY VERSUS RAM FROGS AND PLATYPUSES LORD MARNC SMARES OMAS
ARK CLOUDS GATHERED OVER THE hills of the outback and a dry wind blew A thousand spiderwebs shimmered at the mouth of a rocky cave Inside the cave dozens of pale forms dangled from the ceiling When the breeze touched them they twisted and stretched then dropped from the craggy roof Spreading their wings they took flight a swarm of ghost bats with huge ears and white bellies and teeth sharp enough to kill They poured from the cave in a swirling cloud swooping past the glowing spiderwebs It’s the spider queen a scowling bat said in a whispery voice She commands us to hunt A red-eyed bat hissed Queen Jarrah is an eight-legged No no the red-eyed bat whispered It is the queen who is in charge now And she’ll kill anyone who stands against her Like the wallaby troop she dried up their springs with her nightcasting They died of thirst the scowling bat asked with a guano-head lord is the real power She does only what Lord Marmoo tells her The scorpion
nervous shiver The other bat nodded Jarrah’s power comes from dust and dryness Now that the turtle king is dead she’ll turn the whole outback into a desert fit only for spiders and scorps But she’ll let us have water Enough to survive if we obey With a tremor of fear they joined the pale cloud of bats flitting through the evening following the hill downward toward the swamp Looking for prey Deep in her snug burrow Okipippi woke early which for a platypus meant before sunset and yawned and stretched her tail She drowsed in her comfy twig nest for a few minutes listening to her parents snoring away in the other room
