The Valley of the Ancients Read online

  Praise for The Promised One

  ‘Utterly enthralling for any child with an interest in animals.’ Daily Telegraph

  ‘I am writing to say how much I enjoyed your book, The Promised One. I read it a few weeks ago and could not put it down at all it was so exciting. The story is amazing and one of the best I have ever read.’ Natascha Mathews, aged 11

  ‘I have just finished reading The Promised One for the second time and I love it.’ Thea Pope, aged 11

  ‘I have recently read your book The Promised One. I think it is really good and I feel I’m just like Lucy (apart from the special powers!) because I love animals too … My friend Isabelle has also read the book and loves it too.’ Alexandra Gibbs

  THE VALLEY OF THE ANCIENTS

  DAVID ALRIC

  Illustrated by

  David Dean

  To Derry

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Preface

  Prologue

  1 The Adventure Begins

  2 A Hidden Message

  3 Living in a Greenhouse

  4 A Miscellany of Miscreants

  5 An Invisible Surprise

  6 A Voice in the Dark

  7 Chopper Takes A Break

  8 Plots and Plans

  9 Aerial Combat

  10 Walking on Eggshells

  11 An Eye-opener for Tina

  12 Clio gets a Head Start

  13 Biggles Blunders into a Bog

  14 A Helping Hoof from a Hosenose

  15 Perfidious Plans and Pleistocene Post

  16 The Horror of the Hollow Hills

  17 More Monkey Mail

  18 Hoodwinking Hungry Hunters!

  19 Vanishing Villains

  20 Spider Speak

  21 Search for a Subterranean Slitherkin

  22 The Mighty Ones Get Stuck In

  23 Another Invisible Surprise

  24 A Final Surprise

  Epilogue

  Appendix: Coping with Carbon:

  Lucy’s Lexicon

  Notes on the names in the book

  An Anthology of the Animals of Antiquity

  Glossary

  Unit conversion table

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Acknowledgements

  The author wishes to thank his wife, children and grandchildren for their help and encouragement during the writing of this book, especially Catherine for her suggestions concerning the preliminary drafts.

  He greatly valued the advice he received from his three young advisers, Sadhbha Cockburn, Jonathan Jackson and Georgie Hill, all of whom made comments that influenced the final text. Finally, his grateful thanks are due to Julia Wells, Lucie Ewin and Mandy Norman at Faber and Faber for their help and patience.

  Preface

  This book is a sequel to the first book in the series, The Promised One, which recounted the extraordinary adventures of the Bonaventure and Fossfinder families in the remote jungles of the Amazon river.

  The glossary of difficult and unusual words that was included in the first book proved to be so popular that I have repeated and expanded it. There are new versions of ‘Lucy’s Lexicon’ and ‘Notes on the names in the book’ so that readers can again have some fun guessing the meanings of neologisms and names, and I have included ‘An Anthology of the Animals of Antiquity’, which gives factual information about the creatures mentioned in the book.

  The situation with regard to the factual knowledge contained in the book is a little complicated by the fact that the story contains some elements of fantasy. These provide, after all, the principal sources of excitement in the tale. Those facts and figures that do pertain to reality, however – subjects such as geography; the flora and fauna of current and prehistoric epochs; global warming and the greenhouse effect – are, to the best of my knowledge, accurate.

  Concerning invisibility, the achievement of this, to the extent described in the story, still belongs to the realm of science fiction. The underlying physical concepts discussed by Dr Angstrom are, however, based upon orthodox science. I depart from reality only in permitting the doctor to succeed in actually accomplishing at a macroscopic level that which is only currently theoretically possible at a molecular level.

  The contentious issue of units of measurement is one that I have addressed by using the same compromise as in The Promised One. Heights and distances are usually expressed in imperial units, particularly by the older characters in the book for whom such usage would be everyday speech. I have used metric units or SI units for specific anatomical dimensions and scientific measurements. These ‘rules’ have not been rigidly applied and I have endeavoured to use those units which would come most naturally to an English-speaking person in the particular situation being described. I have included a short unit conversion table at the end of the glossary.

  I make no apology for having included in the book some discussions on the greenhouse effect, global warming and the issue of future energy resources. These topics are arguably the most important that the children reading this book will have to face in their lifetimes, and they seem to merit inclusion in a tale about nature and the world’s greatest rainforest.

  Serious matters, however, can intrude upon the flow and enjoyment of an adventure story and I have attempted to get round the problem by moving some of this material from the text into an appendix. I trust that this compromise provides a satisfactory solution to the problem; if it does not I can only apologize.

  All that now remains is for me to wish you a happy and exciting journey into the Valley of the Ancients.

  David Alric

  London, 2007

  Prologue

  In a London suburb two families guarding an extraordinary secret plan an epic journey to a lost crater in the Amazon jungle. Their mission: to discover whether dinosaurs still exist on earth.

  Thousands of miles away, in a Brazilian high-security prison, a gang of ruthless criminals hatch plans of escape and murder.

  In a nearby university laboratory a brilliant but evil professor becomes obsessed by one of the most incredible inventions in human history.

  Soon, all their destinies become inextricably linked in a violent and mortal struggle. The outcome will affect the lives of countless people, all over the world.

  1

  The Adventure Begins

  Clare Bonaventure woke early. It was mid-July; the summer sun was already streaming into her bedroom through the crack between the curtains, and the birds were singing loudly in the garden and the woodland beyond. Her alarm clock had not yet gone off and she lay for a few moments thinking happily about the exciting holiday that lay ahead. She had just finished her first year at medical school and today she would be setting off for South America with her family and their friends, the Fossfinders.

  As she contemplated the plans for the trip her thoughts went back, inevitably, over the extraordinary events that had led to the forthcoming adventure. Even now, almost two years since her younger sister’s accident, she still had to remind herself that she wasn’t in a continuous dream and that all that had taken place, incredible as it seemed, had really happened. Lucy was now thirteen, six years younger than Clare, and on her first day at secondary school she had been run over by a car. After an operation on her brain she had discovered that she could speak to animals and that all creatures held her in high regard. She was the ‘Promised One’, a human being whom the animal kingdom had been expecting for hundreds of thousands of years and whose destiny was to restore harmony between humans and animals and to correct the harm being done to the environment and the planet by human activities. Lucy had been kidnapped and taken to
the Amazon jungle in South America where, with the help of the animals, she had escaped from her captors and rescued her father. He was Richard Bonaventure, a botanist who had become trapped in a prehistoric valley with two other scientists, a husband-and-wife team called the Fossfinders.

  After returning to England Richard had invited the Fossfinders and their two sons – Clive, who was a year older than Clare, and his younger brother Mark – to come and meet the rest of the family. The two families had decided to revisit the Amazon one day and explore the valley adjacent to the one in which they had been trapped, for they believed it might be inhabited by dinosaurs.

  The forthcoming trip to South America had been planned as a combined family holiday and scientific expedition. Richard worked for a timber company based in Brazil, spending half the year there and the other half doing related research at his university in England. He was working in Brazil at the moment and the trip would be a holiday to mark the end of his current tour of duty. Both families were flying to Rio de Janeiro to join him; then the dinosaur hunters were heading off up the Amazon while the remainder spent a few days in Rio before going to the Pantanal, a wonderful nature reserve in the centre of Brazil.

  Clare gave a little jump as her alarm clock went off. Seven o’clock: now, at last, the long-awaited adventure was about to start. Their flight didn’t leave until the evening so she had most of the day to get herself ready and pack one or two final bits and pieces in her hand luggage. She jumped out of bed and drew back the curtains. It was going to be a fine day. Lucy’s bedroom was next to hers and she could see various birds and a squirrel already gathering on the tiled half-roof below their bedroom windows. They came every morning to greet the Promised One and report to the entire animal kingdom that she was safe and well. They did this through what Lucy called the ‘animanet’, a form of universal communication that animals could use to talk to other animals, even those of different species. As they saw Clare, a robin and two blue tits fluttered up to her window as if to say good morning. As she was Lucy’s sister, animals held her in high regard and were, of course, completely fearless of her. She opened the main window, stroked the birds in turn with her forefinger and then gave them some seeds from a packet she kept for the purpose on her windowsill, despite her mother’s protestations. The squirrel immediately scampered over for the same treatment and Clare laughed as she gently stopped him from stealing the whole packet. Soon she heard Lucy’s window open and there were chirrups and squeaks of excitement around the garden as she appeared. Clare called hello to her sister from her window and then turned to find her slippers. She knew her sister would now be talking to her animal friends.

  ‘Greetings all who have come to see me,’ said Lucy to the little group that had assembled. The small garden birds had been joined by a jay, two magpies, a wood pigeon and a passing seagull. A badger from the copse that lay beyond the garden had squeezed under a gap in the fence, followed soon after by a fox. They now sat on the lawn below next to Lucy’s tortoise, two hedgehogs and a stoat. As Lucy spoke she saw a rabbit peeping under the fence, too nervous to come in at the sight of the predators on the lawn.

  ‘Come nigh, O coneyhop,’ she called, reassuringly. ‘The coneybane and the henbane shall do thee no harm in here. See, the hedgiquill and the shieldkin sit with the stripeybrock, yet have no fear.’ The rabbit, obviously on its first visit to the daily ceremony, crept cautiously under the fence and sat near the flowerbed, as far as possible from the stoat and the fox.

  ‘This day I fly with my kin in the thunderquill across the Great Salt to the land of the Great River where the junglefang dwell. Fare ye all well; I will return before the Great Silver One grows large again.’

  When she spoke to the animals she often found herself slipping into the old-fashioned words and phrases that most of them used when speaking to her. She had forgotten the explanation her grandpa had once given for this, and she kept meaning to ask him again. Suddenly the birds and smaller animals fled for cover.

  ‘Why do the little ones flee?’ Lucy asked the badger.

  ‘The forkiquill comes nigh,’ was the simple reply. Lucy looked up and there, soaring effortlessly above was a magnificent red kite.

  ‘Come down, O master of the wind and skies,’ Lucy called, ‘but spare the little creatures that bide here with me.’ At her words the magnificent raptor came down and settled on the roof. The animals that had hidden from the predator gradually re-emerged, reassured by Lucy’s words.

  While she had been speaking, Tibbles, her cat, had jumped up to sit on the windowsill. She always accompanied Lucy on this little morning ritual. They had an arrangement that Tibbles did not chase or threaten any animals in the garden but was a free agent elsewhere. The cat benefited from her association with Lucy in many ways and leaving the birds and mice alone in the house and garden was part of the deal. While the family were away in Brazil a neighbour was going to come in to feed Tibbles and check that everything was all right. Lucy stroked the cat and then turned back to her audience:

  ‘While I am away Black Furriclaws will remain here but you will be safe from her, as always, inside the fences and the wall. Beware, however, of the new furriclaws that is red like the Brilliant One when sunsleep is nigh.’ Their next-door neighbours had just acquired a ginger tom, but Lucy didn’t feel it was fair to impose rules on cats other than her own.

  The morning news about Lucy would spread from animal to animal, and within the space of a few hours an untold number of creatures in countries far and wide would know that all was well with the Promised One. In particular, the animals of South America would know that she was returning to their land.

  Later in the morning Lucy went to the cupboard under the stairs and lifted up a section of loose floor board near the gas meter. She thought her mother didn’t know about the place she talked to the mice. This greatly amused Joanna who was perfectly aware of her daughter’s activities but turned a blind eye to them. ‘Greetings, O scurripods,’ she said. Soon several mice appeared and greeted her with squeaks of delight. ‘Have you heard what I am doing this day?’ she asked.

  ‘Many have spoken to us: the dreykin, the velvetkin, the sleepikin and the minikin have all been to tell us of the journey that thou must make across the Great Salt,’ said the eldest mouse, ‘and we are very sad to be bereft of thee.’

  ‘I will return soon,’ said Lucy, ‘and before I go I will leave you food in the House for Little Tailless Ones; you are not to come in here while I am away. Another Tailless One comes to feed Black Furriclaws and she must not see you at any time. She greatly fears all scurripods.’

  ‘It is strange indeed that one so mighty can fear those that are so small,’ said the mouse in wonderment, ‘but it shall be as thou commandest.’

  At ten past nine that evening British Airways flight 247 left the runway at Heathrow Airport with the Bonaventures and Fossfinders safely on board. They were all happy and excited that their adventure was about to begin; it was just as well that none of them knew that their precious, secret crater was already occupied by some extremely unpleasant characters.

  2

  A Hidden Message

  Three days later the members of the dinosaur expedition arrived in Macapá at the mouth of the mighty Amazon river. After a great deal of discussion it had been decided that the dinosaur party should number six, Helen and Julian Fossfinder with their elder son, Clive, and Richard Bonaventure with Clare and Lucy who, everybody hoped, might be able to talk to any dinosaurs they met. Helen and Julian were palaeontologists who studied ancient fossils and were now fascinated by the possibility of discovering living dinosaurs. Clive was studying to be a doctor and was in the year above Clare at medical school.

  Lucy’s grandpa, who had originally hoped to go on the trip to the mysterious valley, was becoming increasingly affected by arthritis and had decided that it would be unfair of him to hold up the younger, fitter members of the expedition on their explorations. Mark, who had his leg in plaster following a serious
sports fracture, was also excluded; he and Grandpa would be going with Joanna Bonaventure, her youngest daughter Sarah and cousins Ben, Henry and Christopher, on a less arduous sight-seeing holiday.

  The dinosaur hunters were met at Macapá airport by José Verdade, the senior executive of Richard’s company. He was a man of great integrity who had taken charge of the company after its previous corrupt owner, Chopper, had been imprisoned. José had invited them all to stay at his home for a couple of days before they flew inland into the rainforest. There they all received a warm welcome from José’s wife Francesca and their son Rio, particularly Richard and Lucy who had stayed there on their previous trip. Rio was the same age as Lucy and they were firm pen pals.

  After dinner they discussed their plans for the forthcoming expedition. José and Francesca already knew of the existence of the crater because in the previous adventure they had been involved in a rescue operation for Helen and Julian, but they were unaware of Lucy’s special power – for Lucy’s own protection her family and the Fossfinders had resolved that her secret should never be revealed to any outsider.

  ‘What we are going to do is rather complicated,’ Richard said, ‘so I’ll just remind you about the exact details of what we know so far. The giant crater discovered by Helen and Julian has sides so high and steep that no creature can climb out of it into the surrounding rainforest and nothing can get into it. There are unusual air currents around the rim, so birds are reluctant to fly near it. The crater, known as the Crater of Antiquity by the animals, contains two valleys, separated from each other by a central mountain range which is so steep that no animals can pass from one valley to the other.