The Snowy Tower

by Belinda Murrell

  Queen Ashana shuddered, gripping Roana painfully to her.

  ‘The children must go, and be clever and resourceful and invisible,’ Marnie continued, her eyes glinting with emotion. ‘We must trust them and let them do what is right, for we have no other option.’ Lily and Ethan wordlessly hugged Marnie again. Aisha whined gently and licked Marnie’s hand. Marnie patted Aisha, wiped her eyes brusquely and kissed Lily and Ethan on the forehead.

  ‘Now you must get ready and go. Your majesty, is there anything we can give them to help them?’

  Queen Ashana leapt to her feet and hurried to a bookshelf. She searched for a few minutes, found a volume and impatiently flicked through it.

  ‘Ethan, may I borrow your dagger, if you please?’ she requested. The sharp dagger was used to slice a few pages from the book. ‘Here is a short chapter on the Tower of Sun and Moon, with a map of the Silent Mountains. It may help you find your way.’

  Ethan took the pages and the dagger, nodding gratefully as he scanned the text.

  Aisha leapt to her feet and bounded to the door, her hackles raised and her nose quivering. All eyes turned to the door anxiously. There was the unmistakable sound of the padlock being lifted and a key grinding in the lock. Ethan whistled softly for Aisha, who obediently loped back across the floor.

  Without a sound, the children gathered up their mugs and Charcoal, and darted to the secret door. Queen Ashana and Marnie followed swiftly, hugging each of the children tightly and pushing them through the door.

  ‘Be strong. Be brave. Be clever,’ whispered Marnie hurriedly. ‘Most of all, my darlings, be careful.’

  Together Queen Ashana and Marnie closed the door and stuffed the volume back on the shelf. By the time the library’s double doors swung open, the two women were collapsed on the sofa, delicately sipping on the cold dregs of their coffee.

  Lord Lazlac strode into the library. He was wearing his best black suit. His face was gaunt, with pale, waxy skin and black eyes burning with anticipation. He scanned the library quickly, noting the two women sipping coffee.

  Ashana looked very beautiful. Her hair was once again clean and combed and the golden curls swept up into a twisted knot. She was wearing a fresh long dress of green silk, trimmed with lace at the throat, wrists and hem, with full petticoats cascading over the blue velvet sofa. Her cheeks were flushed with pink and her eyes sparkled.

  Lord Lazlac reassured himself. His plan was a good one. He hoped his most fearful majesty Emperor Raef would see it the same way.

  He nodded peremptorily to Ashana and Marnie. His eyes took in the tea trolley. There were half a dozen dishes there, but little left on them except plenty of crumbs and smears. All that was left now was half a chocolate cake, which looked rather hacked and squashed, and a slice of pecan pie.

  Lord Lazlac was amazed. How could those two reasonably slim women eat so much? he thought in disgust. It is a wonder that they aren’t as fat as pigs. I suppose they may have starved somewhat down in the dungeons, but I can’t have them eating too much now. I’ll have to order the cook to feed them reduced rations.

  ‘Lord Lazlac, some cake?’ gabbled Queen Ashana nervously, gesturing with the cake server. ‘I am afraid Captain Malish mangled it somewhat. I believe he was searching for hidden weapons baked into the cake. No such luck unfortunately, but it still tastes rather delicious. Or some coffee? It is a bit cold now, but we could ring to the kitchens for a fresh pot?’

  Queen Ashana breathed deeply, trying to still her erratically beating heart and slow her anxious prattle.

  ‘No thank you,’ replied Lord Lazlac, his lip curling in disdain. ‘I prefer to eat sparingly. Ashana, there is something I wish to discuss with you, so perhaps your handmaiden can now withdraw?’

  Marnie nodded and rose obediently.

  Queen Ashana stiffened, her head held high. ‘There is nothing you might need to discuss with me that you cannot mention in front of Marnie. Take a seat, Marnie, if you please.’ Marnie sank down again gracefully, spreading her skirts.

  ‘Very well,’ Lord Lazlac replied, grimacing in annoyance. ‘I have decided to take you as my wife. We will be married before Krad in four weeks. That should give us plenty of time to prepare the wedding feast.’

  Queen Ashana stared, speechless.

  ‘I would prefer to have the ceremony sooner,’ Lord Lazlac continued chattily. ‘However, it will take time for the High Priests of Krad to travel from the north. I have sent urgent missives today ordering them to return. The messenger is under strict instructions to ride at full speed on pain of death.’

  ‘Marry you?’ spluttered Queen Ashana furiously, rising to her feet. ‘You must be mad. You murdered my husband, kidnapped my son and tried to kill my daughter. Marry you! I would rather die.’

  ‘That can be arranged,’ Lord Lazlac retorted, twisting his face in a parody of a smile. ‘Or perhaps you would prefer a nasty little accident to befall your son?’

  Queen Ashana deflated completely, all blood drained from her face. Marnie sprang to her aid, helping her to the sofa, chafing her wrists and murmuring soothing words.

  ‘I thought you would see reason,’ gloated Lord Lazlac. ‘Now we have a lot to discuss. Your ladies will, of course, need to prepare your wedding clothes. They must be red velvet in accordance with Sedah tradition, ornately embroidered in gold thread, with a sheer red silk veil. You will need to organise a night shift of sewing women to have them ready in time. I have prepared some rough sketches of my preferred design.’

  Lord Lazlac waved a sheaf of papers in the air, all covered in tiny cramped writing.

  ‘And of course there is the question of my coronation. I thought a double ceremony would be perfect. I have drawn up a menu of dishes to be prepared, and a guest list. Unfortunately I feel it is safer if your son remains in the care of the priests until after the wedding, to ensure your full compliance, then he will be sent to Sedah as originally planned. This will be your last visit to the library, as you will be much too busy to read and, of course, watching what you eat.’

  Lord Lazlac glanced meaningfully at the trolley of empty dishes. Queen Ashana closed her eyes as if that would help to block out Lord Lazlac’s grating voice.

  ‘You are overcome, my dear,’ Lord Lazlac purred solicitously, stroking Queen Ashana’s cheek. ‘Perhaps you should have a little rest while I send over the rolls of velvet and silk.’ Lord Lazlac thrust the sheaf of papers at Marnie. ‘Take my designs and ensure that they are properly executed. I will hold you personally responsible for their creation.’

  Somehow Marnie managed to help Queen Ashana back to the gardener’s cottage. Once behind closed doors, Queen Ashana woke from her shocked stupor and ranted and raged, striding back and forth. Marnie said very little, letting the Queen’s fury and despair work its way out, but her mind ticked furiously as she considered the options.

  ‘What shall we do?’ Queen Ashana begged, her shoulders slumped with despair. Marnie thought of Willem, her husband, still locked in the dungeons below the palace. She missed him dreadfully and longed to discuss this new dilemma with him. Still, there was nothing for it. They would need to figure out some strategy on their own.

  ‘Pretend,’ Marnie stated vehemently. ‘Pretend to be compliant. We’ll sew this wretched wedding dress and embroider this ridiculous train and veil. But we’ll try to delay as long as we can and buy some time for the children to rescue Prince Caspar. We’ll ask Cookie to get word out to the rebels in the forest to help them. We’ll send word to the people of Tiregian that this marriage is a sham, and not of your choosing. We’ll fight him subtly and quietly in any way we can. Most of all, we will not give up hope.’

  Queen Ashana thought carefully over Marnie’s advice, then nodded in agreement. There was nothing else they could really do.

  Holding flickering candles, Ethan, Lily, Roana and Saxon crept along the dark stone tunnel with Aisha prowling at their heels. Lily’s arms ached from carrying Charcoal. She was too big to fit in a pocket now. Fina
lly Lily put her down and Charcoal scampered along in front, her long waving tail leading them like a standard.

  The tunnel ran the length of the palace. It was built many years before to give the royals a secret way to slip around the palace. Every now and again they passed a secret spyhole that looked into the Great Hall or various reception chambers, where the kings or queens of old could spy on their courtiers and hear the latest intrigues and plots.

  The children retraced their steps of an hour before. Eventually they crept down a steep flight of stairs, deep below the palace, and followed the tunnel along for another ten minutes. The tunnel led under the garden and the main palace wall. Finally they climbed a steep ladder, which popped up in a stone and iron rotunda in the spacious parkland that provided a green buffer between the palace and the town. There was a secret trapdoor cleverly built into the timber seat that curved around the rotunda.

  Queen Ashana had told Cookie how to find the secret entrance. Roana’s great-great-grandfather had enjoyed sneaking down the tunnel at night, to visit his favourite inn and have a few pints of ale, incognito.

  Cautiously the four climbed out into the rotunda, hauling Aisha and Charcoal up into the fresh air. The trapdoor was quickly closed. The candles and a tinderbox were left down in the tunnel, in case they were needed later. Saxon pulled a leather ball, stuffed with straw, from his pack.

  The four children ran out from the rotunda and started kicking the ball from one to another. They had decided that playing football would make them look more like innocent local children than suspicious fugitives. Aisha chased the ball, barking madly.

  ‘Over here,’ called Ethan, holding his arms up. ‘My kick.’

  ‘No, it’s my turn,’ squealed Roana. ‘You two are such ball hogs.’

  The four children zigzagged across the parkland, chattering and giggling heartily. Saxon scooped the ball up and ran with it towards the hedge that separated the park from the town. Ethan chased him speedily and tackled him with gusto. The boys rolled over and over, mock wrestling, while Aisha barked and leapt joyfully.

  Lily scooped up the ignored ball and kicked it away. A Sedah guard up on the palace wall watched the game of football for a moment and then turned away, bored. A moment later, the scene of four children and a dog playing football in the park had completely faded from his memory. He did not even notice the black and white cat that sedately followed, prowling through the grass.

  Once in the streets of Tira, the children kept up their pretence of playing football until they were well away from the palace. They headed west for a few streets, then darted down a side street. Ethan stopped to check his boot for a phantom stone, to make sure no-one was following them. They turned down several dark, narrow alleys, then emerged into a crowded main road, where they let the crowd sweep them further west. Another detour took them down a side alley while Saxon lingered behind, pretending to check out the delicious offerings in the baker’s window.

  When they were sure no-one had followed them, they came out into the crowded market place, and headed south-east. At last they arrived at their destination, the White Horse Inn. Inside the taproom Master Albert Drummond, Cookie’s brother and the proprietor of the inn, was sitting at a scarred table, writing lists with the help of a bearded man with a red ponytail like a fox’s brush. It was Fox, renowned smuggler and captain of the Owl. On Fox’s shoulder perched a tiny, cheeky monkey called Mia.

  When the taproom door swung open and the four children and Aisha strolled in, Mia leapt from Fox’s shoulder and darted over to greet the large dog. She grabbed Aisha’s leather collar and swung herself up on Aisha’s neck like a jockey, chattering noisily. Aisha was wise to Mia’s naughty tricks, so she immediately rolled over on her back, dismounting Mia in an instant.

  Mia leapt for Lily’s skirt and nimbly raced up, until she was seated on Lily’s shoulder, her little wrinkled hands tucked into Lily’s collar. Mia nibbled Lily’s ear and stroked her cheek affectionately.

  ‘Mia, we’ve missed you,’ Lily laughed joyfully, patting the monkey’s silky fur.

  Aisha pawed at Lily’s skirt jealously, begging for the attention being bestowed upon Mia.

  ‘Children, welcome back,’ beamed Master Drummond, his round face shiny with pleasure.

  Fox stood up, relieved to see the children safely back from their visit to the palace. He smiled and his tanned face crinkled up around his pale blue eyes. Today, he did not wear his usual black, but was dressed in a crisp white shirt and navy breeches, with long black boots. There was no sign of his cutlass, but the children were sure Fox would have concealed a dirk or two somewhere on his body.

  Two days ago, Fox had smuggled the children back into Tiregian on the Owl, then to a lonely farmhouse on the moors, eluding an ambush set by the relentless Sedah tracker, Sniffer. Fox had finally brought them to the White Horse Inn on the back of a farm cart, laden with potatoes and vegetables for market. He had more than earned the pile of gold crescents that the children had paid him, but Fox was keen to help them prepare for the next stage of their journey before he returned to meet the crew of the Owl.

  He and Master Drummond had been working tirelessly with the four children to plan strategies, source provisions and discuss options.

  ‘Master Drummond and I have been reviewing the plans,’ Fox said. ‘Let’s go through them all together to make sure we’ve thought of everything. Saxon, your map, please?’

  ‘We are heading to the north, first,’ Saxon said, spreading out the crumpled map. ‘It is imperative that we find the tower where Prince Caspar is being held and rescue him before he is sent to Sedah, where we would have no hope of reaching him.’

  Master Drummond examined the map carefully.

  ‘Even though it is nearly summer in the south, the far north is still snowbound. The spring thaw may not come to the high mountains for some weeks. The snow country is dangerous and inhospitable, even for the wandering mountain tribes. There are avalanches, wild beasts and freezing temperatures, and it is very easy to get lost in the snow.’

  The four children glanced at each other, their minds whirring.

  ‘Why would the Sedahs send Prince Caspar so far into the wilderness?’ Ethan asked. ‘They have concentrated their invasion mainly on the coast to secure Tira and the ports. Why not take Prince Caspar directly to Sedah?’

  ‘Perhaps because the tower is so remote and inhospitable,’ Fox replied. ‘No-one would think to look for a missing prince in the middle of nowhere. They needed somewhere they could simply disappear, where no-one would ask questions.’

  Master Drummond nodded.

  ‘Governor Lazlac is using the threat of Caspar’s safety to force the queen to co-operate with his plans. I think Queen Ashana might be a lot less compliant if Caspar were taken away to Sedah – if there was no hope of him returning. The prince is integral to the Sedah plans to control the whole of Tiregian, not just the coast.’

  Princess Roana stiffened, her jaw tight.

  ‘So we must travel to the north at once,’ she said.

  ‘There is much to be done before you can go,’ replied Master Drummond, consulting his list. ‘You will need clothes that are suitable for the cold – gloves, hats, warm coats, scarves and blankets.’

  ‘And rugs for your horses,’ added Fox.

  Master Drummond scribbled furiously adding to his list.

  ‘And good provisions because hunting will be scarce in the north, and we don’t really have time to waste,’ Ethan mused.

  ‘How long do you think it will take us to ride to the Silent Mountains?’ Lily asked.

  ‘About a week to reach the foothills,’ Master Drummond stated. ‘Although climbing through the mountains will be much slower, so perhaps ten days. It will be much quicker coming back if you can catch a barge down the river Bryn. The journey upriver, against the current, is far too slow and arduous by barge.’

  Fox stood up from the table and paced the room, stroking his beard with concern. Mia scampered from the tabl
e up his arm onto her usual shoulder perch.

  ‘I am anxious about the children travelling on their own so far to the north,’ Fox worried. ‘As you say, there are many dangers on the roads, and we know the Sedah are watching out for four children travelling with a dog. I should travel with them, to help protect them.’

  ‘I know,’ agreed Master Drummond. ‘But as we have discussed, you are also very recognisable and have already been betrayed to the Sedahs, because they knew exactly where to wait for you when you returned to Tiregian. I think you should lie low in one of my safe houses for a while.’

  Fox stopped pacing and glared at Master Drummond furiously.

  ‘I will not,’ growled Fox. ‘I can look after myself. I don’t want to endanger the children but I will not be hidden away in a safe house. I have spent my life avoiding capture.’

  ‘Do not underestimate the Sedahs,’ warned Master Drummond. ‘They are not a bunch of lackadaisical coast guards.’

  ‘Still, someone should go with them,’ Fox insisted.

  ‘I would go with the children myself, but our plans are at a crucial stage in Tira,’ Master Drummond explained. ‘There is no-one I can trust to co-ordinate things here, and I dare not risk raising suspicion among the Sedahs. Perhaps some of the rebel soldiers –’

  ‘We’ll be fine on our own,’ interrupted Ethan. ‘We’ve managed to find the Sun Gem and Moon Pearl so far, and elude Sniffer and bandits and Sedah soldiers.’

  ‘As you said, the Sedah have not yet seized control of the countryside to the north, so we should be safer there, too,’ Saxon added. ‘Besides, the Sedahs are more likely to notice us if we ride north with a band of bodyguards.’

  ‘Plus we have Aisha,’ Lily argued. ‘She is better than half a dozen bodyguards.’

  Aisha sat up at the sound of her name and barked fiercely, as though agreeing fervently with Lily. Charcoal meowed and arched her back in disagreement. Everyone laughed.

  ‘True enough,’ agreed Master Drummond. ‘You have all done brilliantly. Perhaps the princess should stay here with us for protection, though. It would be a disaster if the Sedahs found her royal highness.’