Thomas

Thomas is a dark fantasy adventure novel for children by British author Robin Jarvis. It is the third book in The Deptford Histories trilogy, a series of prequels to Jarvis's Deptford Mice books, and serves as a backstory for the eponymous mouse mariner Thomas Triton. It was first published in the United Kingdom in 1995 by Macdonald Young Books. In 2006, it was published in the United States by Chronicle Books. Plot summary Four years after the events of The Final Reckoning, midshipmouse Thomas Triton is troubled by memories of a traumatic incident in his youth that resulted in the death of his best friend, Woodget Pipple. His wife Gwen suggests that it would make him feel better if he wrote down what was bothering him. Many years prior, Thomas is taken in by a kindly community of field mice after being caught in a snowstorm. There he meets Woodget, a little field mouse who becomes his close friend, and a beautiful maiden named Bess Sandibrook. Thomas falls deeply in love with Bess, but is unaware that Woodget has similar feelings for her. Stating that she loves Woodget, Bess gently rejects Thomas, only for them both to realise that Woodget has run away after mistakenly thinking he's getting in the way of their romance. Thomas vows to find Woodget, and catches up with him at a dock as a ship called the Calliope is getting ready to set sail. Thomas and Woodget meet a tough Irish mouse named Mulligan, who invites them to have a drink with him on the ship before he leaves. But they stay too long and to their dismay are stuck on the ship. The two become suspicious of Mulligan, who is evasive and will not let anyone see the contents of a satchel he always carries with him. The Calliope eventually crashes in a violent storm, killing most of its passengers. Mulligan washes ashore in Crete with Dimlon, a simple-minded young mouse Thomas and Woodget befriended during the voyage. Dimlon drops his facade of innocence and reveals himself to Mulligan as Dahrem Ruhar, an adept of the Scale, an evil cult that worships a banished reptile god called Suruth Scarophion. Mulligan has been carrying a piece of a jade egg sacred to the Scale, trying to prevent them from obtaining it and joining it with the other pieces, which would create a vessel into which Scarophion can be reborn. Thomas and Woodget survived the storm as well, and come onto the island in time to see a dying Mulligan, poisoned by the blades of Dahrem.