“What are those for?” she asked Tiger.
“Sledshots,” she replied. But before Cass could ask any more, Tiger announced, “Oh, look, we are arriving,” and started to fuss about Arden’s coat and hair.
The palace reminded Cass of one of those dolls that split down the middle to reveal another doll, and then another, and then yet another. It was a fortress, within a fortress, and then as they were ushered through another set of gates, guarded by armoured knights, they came to the Tower of Usk. This stood at the very centre of the palace and it was where King Hoff and his family lived and Arden was to stay. Cass felt a rush of relief looking at its sheer walls and the armies of guards swarming around. How could Arden not be safe here?
The following morning, Tiger woke Cass with a gentle shake and a cup of bitter tea. “Sorry, have I overslept?” Cass apologized, seeing the daylight seeping in around the curtains. It had been late by the time Arden had come to bed.
Tiger smiled. “Not really. Arden is still asleep too but I need to wake her soon, so you’d better get dressed now. King Hoff is expecting her in an hour. Oh, by the way, these were brought up for you.” She handed her some letters. Cass recognized Mrs Pott’s, Tig’s and Rip’s writing with a smile. “You’d better read them later,” Tiger added.
The hour passed quickly in a whirl of bathing, breakfast, dressing, the breathing-in and lacing, the fluffing and arranging, until Arden, looking serene, floated off to talk politics with King Hoff. Cass questioned whether she should accompany her but Arden had laughed, saying, “I am quite safe here. Besides the Bundish would think it most peculiar.”
So Cass helped Tiger clear up and finish the unpacking. By the middle of the morning, Tiger announced that all was done and Cass was free to do as she pleased for the rest of the day. With a stab of delight she returned to her bedroom, lay down on her extremely comfortable bed and tore open the letter from Rip first.
Dear Cass, it began. I can’t believe you will be reading this in Oskbar – is it snowing?
Yes, it is, Cass thought, looking out of the window, but only a bit. She was about to read on when she was interrupted by a knock at her door. “Come in!” she called, putting her letter down and getting off her bed. She expected it to be Tiger but to her surprise it was Dacha.
“Hello,” he said, coming into the room. He was wearing normal clothes, which made him look different. Older somehow and smaller.
“Hello,” Cass replied. “Does Captain Toskil want to see me?”
“No,” Dacha replied, looking slightly embarrassed. “I have the rest of the day off and Tiger told me that you do too, so I wondered if you would like to come to the Ice Fair with me.” Then regaining a little bit of his cockiness he added, “It can be a little rough and I thought you might need my protection.” Dacha had been teasing her about being the queen’s sword ever since the Forest of Thunt.
“How kind of you,” Cass replied, rolling her eyes. “But yes, I’d love to come to the fair. Also, can you explain what a sledshot is?”
“I can indeed. In fact, I’ll show you what a sledshot is.”
Cass changed out of her lady-in-waiting clothes then followed Dacha down through the tower to the cellars and kitchens in the basement.
“Sledshot?” he asked a servant, who cocked his head in a direction in reply.
“Ahh, here we go,” Dacha announced, leading Cass out into a small courtyard with a tunnel at one end of it. It was about as high as a man and just a little broader, and running into it were two channels. Next to it was a row of large high-sided sledges. Two boys were turning a wheel, bringing the sledges back up full of food and drink, while several others were unloading the contents on to trolleys.
“Those are sledshots,” Dacha said, gesturing with a flourish to the sledges. “It’s how they transport everything around the city,” he explained. “And it’s how the Oskbarians get where they want to go in a hurry.”
“How clever,” Cass replied.
“Right, let’s have a go then,” Dacha said.
“Really?” Cass asked hesitantly, feeling a pang of misgiving as she looked into the dark tunnel.
Dacha burst out laughing. “So you’re quite happy to fight off robbers but you’re scared of a sledshot?”
Cass smiled in response but said, “Are you sure it’s not dangerous?”
“Only if you try to stop it,” he replied. “You have to just trust in the sledshot. I’d better sit in front so I can steer, in case you find it too alarming. They do go pretty fast.”
Cass was still looking warily at the sledges and the tunnel when an elderly lady appeared, grandly dressed like a courtier. One of the boys immediately came and helped her into a sledge and she shot off down the tunnel.
Dacha arched an eyebrow at Cass. “Still scared?”
Cass laughed. “I’m sure you arranged that on purpose. I am still a bit frightened but let’s try it,” she replied and they got into a sledge.
This is amazing! Cass thought as they flew off at great speed, but then they slammed into a small metal gate that had shut across their path as another sledge whizzed past in front of them.
They set off again and Dacha steered them off to the right, following a sign for the Ice Fair. It was a steep, straight run down with no other routes crossing it so they picked up speed quickly. Cass felt as if they were flying as the sledge raced along, weaving between the buildings, making her heart pound. Seconds later, they were catapulted through an arch in the city walls and came to a standstill at the sledshot station at the Ice Fair.
“Fun?” Dacha asked.
“Really good fun,” Cass replied with a laugh, getting out of the sledge. “Can we do it again?”
“Well, the slight problem is you have to walk all the way back up to the palace; people don’t get hauled up. Anyway, there’s a lot more fun to be had here,” he said, looking out at the fair. Cass followed his eyes and a sea of colour hit her – the maze of brightly coloured stalls, the mechanical fairground rides and the entertainment tents. She inhaled the smell of spiced cakes and winter wine and felt a thrill of delicious excitement.
“Is there anything you particularly want to do or shall we just wander around?” Dacha asked.
“I want to see everything,” Cass announced. But then something caught her eye in the distance – an enormous grey creature waving a nose like a snake. She gasped and shrieked in excitement. “An elephant!! I have wanted to see one for my whole life. My father used to tell me stories about them when I was tiny. Please can we go and see that first!”
Dacha laughed. “Of course we can. The animal circus is one of the best bits.”
They must have spent at least an hour watching the animals and then with no further plan, they meandered along, stopping to see whatever they fancied and play whichever games caught their eye. Cass felt herself finally relax and shed her layers of worry.
At noon they ate hot spicy sausages and watched a troupe of acrobats.
“That used to be me,” Cass told Dacha and when he looked puzzled she explained. “I used to be an acrobat on the Circus Boat.”
“Really? You are full of surprises. Why did you give it up?”
“It gave me up,” Cass replied. “I broke my wrist badly and that was that.”
“Don’t you miss it?” Dacha asked.
Cass considered his question.
“Yes, I do. It was always my dream since I was a little child and letting go of your dreams is never easy.”
Dacha nodded seriously.
“And what’s your dream now?”
Cass thought about the Company of Eight, but since they were a secret organization she couldn’t very well mention them to Dacha. So she replied, “A mooncake.”
Dacha burst out laughing.
“Let me make your dream come true,” he said extravagantly, and bought them a couple of the blisteringly hot cakes and cups of sweet winter wine. They watched a mechanical puppet show – a comic version of the old story of Nirzad and the
swans – which made them both giggle and then went into a hall of mirrors.
Still laughing, they walked on. “This must be the magical district,” Dacha said, looking at all the signs for fortune tellers and trancers.
Sure enough, a child came dancing up to them. “You must come and see my mother. She is the best trancer and fortune teller in the whole of the Longest World.” The girl looked Veraklian, with long copper hair and fair freckly skin.
“Really?” Dacha asked, playing along.
“Absolutely,” the child replied. “Tonight she will have a queue of a thousand people waiting for a reading but now, by your incredible good luck, she is free.”
“Goodness me, that is fortunate,” Dacha replied earnestly.
“It is a miracle,” the child replied. “She is very reasonable, only two silvers for a reading, so you must come.”
“I’m an obtuse so don’t ask me,” Cass said. The girl looked at her in amazement but seeing there were no silvers to be made out of Cass, she quickly turned her attention to Dacha.
He was clearly reluctant so she changed her approach. “Please come,” she pleaded. “We haven’t eaten yet today or last night. You won’t regret it, she’s honestly amazing.”
“Why don’t you?” Cass said, feeling sorry for the child.
Dacha considered it. “She’s a good trancer, you say?”
The child nodded vigorously.
“Very well then,” he said. “Take us to her.”
It was one of the smaller, shabbier tents and it was chilly inside with the brazier only giving off the most meagre heat. The young woman who came forwards had a bright smile but Cass thought how tired and underfed she looked.
“Please come in,” she said. “Is it both of you?” she asked but before they could answer, she looked at Cass and said, “Oh, but no, you are an obtuse. How extraordinary. Come, sit down.” She led them to a pile of floor cushions around the brazier.
“Zena, fetch some tea,” she said to the girl. “So, how can I help you?” she asked Dacha as Zena handed around the tiny beakers of steaming tea.
“I have some family in Veraklia – an uncle and an aunt. I wanted to see how they were,” Dacha said.
The woman’s smile faltered. “I will try to trance them,” she said. “But it has proved very difficult in Veraklia. It is almost as if someone has put up an invisible wall around the country so our minds cannot enter it. All the trancers are saying the same thing, I promise you.”
“Never mind,” said Dacha breezily. “Will you tell me how my parents are? They are in Minaris.”
“Of course,” she said, relieved. “Here, give me your hands and picture them and where they live in Minaris for me. It will take me a few minutes.”
She took Dacha’s hands and they both shut their eyes. Cass drank her tea and looked around the tent at the bedding rolls and the battered trunk of clothes. How cold it must be at night, she thought.
“I can see them,” the woman announced. “Your father is sitting at a desk, writing. Perhaps he is a scribe?”
“He is a sum keeper,” Dacha replied, sounding impressed.
“Your mother has just brought him his lunch and now she is with someone else, a young woman and two young children.”
“That’ll be my sister,” Dacha said.
“They all look well and happy,” the woman said with a smile, dropping his hands and opening her eyes.
Dacha thanked her and gave her two silvers. They all got up and then something very strange happened. The woman gave a slight cry and doubled over as if in pain. Dacha and Cass turned to help her but Zena rushed forwards and pulled her back on to the cushions.
“This happens sometimes. She’s very sensitive,” she explained.
The woman had her eyes closed but then opened them suddenly, saying to Dacha in a whisper, “Be careful, you must be very careful. At the world’s end, you are in great danger.” And she slumped back, her eyes shut.
“Will she be all right?” Dacha asked.
“Yes, yes, she’ll be fine,” Zena said, practically shooing them out of the tent.
“Well, that was odd,” Dacha said lightly to Cass once they were out of earshot. “You would have thought we would all be in great danger at the world’s end.”
Cass smiled, relieved that he wasn’t upset by the fortune teller’s words. “But perhaps because you’re so special, you will be the only one to survive.”
Dacha laughed. “I’m so pleased that at long last you’ve realized how special I am. Now, I’m hungry again,” Dacha said. “Come on, I’ll buy you a venison pie.”
The sun was setting as they walked back up the steep, twisting cobbled streets to the palace, stopping to look at some of the stalls that lined the way. It was traditional to give small presents at the Mid-Winter Feast so Cass bought a few things for Mrs Potts, Lin and Tig, as did Dacha for his family.
“My brother will be racing,” Dacha said as they discussed the Feast.
“In the Ice Race on the River Mira? Really?” Cass asked. “Is he fast? Does he stand a chance of winning?”
Dacha laughed. “He’s not slow but I don’t think he’ll win. He’d have to beat Minin – he’s won for the last few years.”
“Oh, I missed it last year. I was on the Island of Women.” Cass was about to go on when a young boy tapped her on the shoulder.
Cass turned around and he said, “Excuse me, miss, but I’ve got a message for you,” and he began to sing,
“Oh, I’m the Queen of Minaris
And all the ladies have to curtsy to me,
Curtsy to me,
Curtsy to me,
In the City of the Fish.”
And, just as the girls had in Aravura and Danske, as he said fish he drew out shhhh.
Cass felt the blood drain from her face. Wern must have followed them. The boy turned to sprint away but Cass grabbed his arm.
“Who told you to sing that to me? Who sent you?” she demanded.
“I don’t know who she was. A lady, just a lady,” the boy said, struggling to get away.
Cass had been expecting him to give a description of Wern. She faltered. “A lady?” she queried.
“Yes,” the boy replied.
“What did she look like?”
“Very beautiful. Dressed like a courtier.”
Who in the Longest World could that be? Cass thought. “Where was she?”
“Just in the street, over there,” he said, gesturing. “But she’s gone now,” he added unnecessarily.
Cass let the boy go as there didn’t seem much point in doing anything else. But she felt shot through with anxiety. It must be a warning about the queen. Arden was in danger.
“I must get back to the palace,” she said to Dacha.
“Of course, but can you explain? What does the rhyme mean?”
Cass explained to him briefly about the girl in Aravura and Wern as they marched back.
“I understand why you are concerned, but really the queen will be quite safe in the palace.”
“She is due to go out tonight to a reception in the city, isn’t she?” Cass asked.
“You’re right,” Dacha replied, his confidence faltering. “At a noble’s house. Perhaps we should tell Captain Toskil to send more men.”
“Yes, definitely, and I must go with her as well as Tiger,” Cass said as they reached the palace.
The first thing Cass did was try to find Captain Toskil. But he was out on a tour of the fortifications so she had to just leave a note for him. Then she went back to the queen’s rooms where she found Tiger lying on her bed, looking very pale.
“Cass, I’m sorry, it must have been something I ate. My stomach is terrible so you will have to accompany the queen to the dinner this evening.” Cass could hear in her voice how ill she felt.
“Of course, that’s fine,” Cass replied. “Where exactly is it?” she asked.
“It’s at one of the mansions just below the palace. You’ll need to wear your silk ev
ening dress so why don’t you go and get ready while Arden is still in talks. You know what a rush it will be once she’s back, and the sledges are due at six thirty. I’ve laid out her dress on her bed and she is to wear the diamond-and-sapphire tiara.”
Cass nodded and said, “You should sleep now. Is there anything I can get you?”
“No, thank you,” Tiger said, shutting her eyes.
Rip’s letter was still lying on Cass’s bed, so she quickly put on her gilded dress, neatened up her hair and then, after stowing her knife in her pocket, she sat down to read it. It was mostly chat about what he had been doing but there was a paragraph at the end that made her pause.
By the way, I don’t know if word has reached you from another source but the pirate Zirt has managed the almost impossible and escaped from Prison Island. He must have had help from outside.
Cass felt a jolt of shock. Zirt had escaped… What could that mean? She began to think it through but she was distracted by Arden’s return. The queen looked fed up.
“Tea, please, Cass. I need to write a note to Lycus to go by bird and then I had better get ready for this wretched dinner. Where’s Tiger?”
“She’s ill, I’m afraid. So I’ll come with you tonight instead, if you’re happy with that?”
“Of course. Poor Tiger. I will go and check on her in a minute. Now I understand why you’re all dressed up,” Arden replied. Then with a smile that warmed her face a little she said, “It’ll be nice, you can laugh with me at all the pompous Oskbarians.”
Cass scooted around getting tea and Arden insisted that Cass take the message for Lycus to the birdhouse herself to ensure that no one read it. Cass tried to find Captain Toskil again but he was still out. By the time she got back it was time for Arden’s bath and dressing. There wasn’t another moment to try to see him before six thirty came and they had to leave for the evening.
The Conspiracy of Magic Page 6