Tommy urged Bess forward and Lady Beatrix pressed something into her hand. Tommy looked down. It was a purse full of coins!
Late in the afternoon, when the older squires had fought and an overall victory had been declared for Flamant Castle, Tommy left the others to their celebrating and headed off across the road to the fair.
As she neared Jonglers Field she saw the fair was in full swing. Jugglers and acrobats were entertaining the crowds – and there were the morris dancers, skipping around the maypole, holding long ribbons. When she drew closer, Tommy saw something that made her laugh aloud. They had used their ribbons to tie Reynard to the pole! He was shouting and struggling, but his shouts were impossible to hear over the music of the fiddlers. As pleasing as the sight was, Tommy hurried on. There was something else she was looking for.
She reached the merchants’ stalls and began to walk among them, clutching the purse Lady Beatrix had given her. The delicious smell of mince pies distracted her for a moment, but she moved past the pie stall without buying anything. There was a stall selling pots and pans, a stall for shoes and a stall for silks. Belts and buckles, combs and mirrors, pincushions …
Ah, there it was. She hurried over to a stall draped with ribbons in every colour of the rainbow.
‘Buying ribbons, Thomasina? I must say, I’m surprised. I never thought you were the kind of girl to like ribbons. Still, you deserve all the treats you want after your victory.’
It was the castle’s cook, Mrs Moon.
‘I should be in the kitchen preparing tonight’s feast,’ she confided, ‘but I just had to come and see you fight in the tournament. We’re all very proud of you, girl.’
‘Thank you, Mrs Moon,’ Tommy said. ‘But the ribbons aren’t for me. They’re a gift for a friend.’
Tommy looked over all the ribbons on the stall before choosing the widest, shiniest pink and blue ribbons. She took some coins from her purse and paid for them, then hurried back to the castle.
With everyone still at the fair or celebrating Flamant Castle’s victory on the field, the bridge over the moat was deserted.
‘Mr Crocodiddle?’ Tommy called.
There was no answer.
Tommy crossed the bridge and ran down the grassy bank to the moat. She couldn’t see the crocodiddle anywhere but she was sure he was nearby.
‘I fought in the tournament and won,’ said Tommy shyly. ‘I was so good at keeping my balance and gripping with my knees that the Roses squire couldn’t knock me off the horse. But I couldn’t have done it without you, Mr Crocodiddle. You taught me how to ride.’
A series of bubbles erupted on the surface of the water. Two beady eyes emerged from the murky depths, followed by a long snout.
‘I bought you a thank-you present,’ Tommy said.
‘A present?’ said the crocodiddle. ‘For me? What is it?’
‘Turn around and put your tail on the bank,’ Tommy ordered. She held up the ribbons she had bought. ‘They’re in the Flamant Castle colours,’ she told him.
‘Ribbons for my tail,’ the crocodiddle breathed, craning his head to look as Tommy tied them on. ‘Thank you, Sword Girl. They’re beautiful.’ Tommy could have sworn the crocodiddle was blushing.
Tommy turned as she caught a movement behind her, and saw Sir Benedict, accompanied by Lil.
‘Congratulations, Tommy,’ said the cat. ‘Sir Benedict says you fought extremely well.’
‘Mrs Moon told me she saw you at the ribbon stall,’ said Sir Benedict. He looked at the crocodiddle’s tail. ‘You’re a real champion, Tommy,’ he said. ‘And not just on a horse.’
‘Hooray for Sword Girl!’ the crocodiddle cried, and it was Tommy’s turn to blush as the others joined in: ‘Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!’
JOIN TOMMY AND
HER FRIENDS FOR ANOTHER
SWORD GIRL
ADVENTURE IN
CHAPTER 1
‘GOODBYE! GOOD LUCK !’
Everyone at Flamant Castle had poured out of the castle gate to see off the knights.
Tommy waved until her arm hurt, then leaned against the railing of the bridge and watched till the knights were out of sight. Sir Walter the Bald, the nobleman who owned Flamant Castle, rode at the head of the procession. Sir Benedict, the castle’s bravest knight, was at his right hand. They were on their way east to Roses Castle. A month ago, Sir Percy and the knights of Roses had come to Flamant for a tournament. Now Sir Percy was holding a tournament at his castle, and nearly all the knights and squires of Flamant would be competing.
‘I bet Sir Hugh is disappointed about being left behind,’ Tommy said as the knight escorted Sir Walter’s wife, Lady Beatrix the Bored, back inside the castle walls.
‘Someone has to guard Flamant Castle and its lands,’ Lil pointed out. ‘But you’re right. Nothing much will happen around here until the knights return – which suits me just fine.’ The black and white cat stretched and yawned. ‘There’s been too much activity for my taste. I’m looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet and a warm patch of sun in the great courtyard.’
She began to pad across the bridge towards the castle gate and Tommy fell into step beside her.
‘What about you, Tommy? The armoury will seem very quiet after all the hustle and bustle of getting the knights’ swords ready for the tournament.’
‘What I’d really like to do is spend some time looking after the Old Wrecks,’ Tommy confided. ‘I’ve been so busy with the other swords I feel like I’ve neglected them.’
‘I’m sure they wouldn’t agree,’ said Lil. The Old Wrecks had been neglected for a long time, sitting dusty and unused in the darkest corner of the sword chamber. But when Tommy had become Keeper of the Blades she’d polished and sharpened them and found, to her astonishment, that the swords were inhabited by the spirits of their last owners.
For once the armoury was silent when Tommy entered. Smith had gone into town to see the blacksmith about some new shields, and there was no sign of lazy Reynard, the Keeper of the Bows.
Tommy went through the doorway to the left of the forge and into the sword chamber.
‘Sir Walter and the knights have left for Roses,’ she announced to the Old Wrecks.
‘What a pity you couldn’t go with them, dearie,’ said a sabre from the rack in the corner.
Tommy, who had fought in the tournament at Flamant when one of the squires was injured, shrugged. ‘I’m of more use here, Nursie,’ she said as she pulled the sabre from the rack. ‘After all, Sir Hugh and his men will still need their swords cared for.’
‘Our sword girl has an admirable devotion to duty,’ said the dignified voice of Bevan Brumm, a long-handled dagger.
‘She does,’ said the slender, slightly curved sword that was Jasper Swann. Jasper had been a squire, and was close to Tommy’s own age when he’d fallen ill and died. ‘But tell us again about how you won your jousting bout at the tournament, Sword Girl.’
So Tommy settled down with her file and whetstone for sharpening, and a pot of clove-scented oil for polishing, and described her victory.
‘Ooh, well done, Sword Girl,’ said Nursie appreciatively. ‘Of course, my little darling won every bout he entered …’
Tommy thought she heard a groan from Bevan Brumm.
Nursie loved telling stories about her ‘little darling’, which was what she had called Sir Walter the Bald when he was a boy and she was his nursemaid.
‘He had so much energy, you see,’ she recalled fondly. ‘He was always up to something. Oh, the mischief! One time he went missing for a whole day. My stars, I was in such a panic. I finally found him in the cellar. He said he’d been playing in an old tunnel. He told me it ran under the castle walls and underneath the town and came out in Skellibones Forest. Playing in dark, dirty tunnels was not at all what a young nobleman should be doing, I told him.’
‘There’s a tunnel running from here to the forest?’ asked Tommy, interested.
‘Oh no,’ said Nursie. ‘I’m sure he was
just making up tales to fool his old Nursie.’
‘There used to be rumours about a tunnel when I was a squire,’ Jasper said. ‘But no one ever seemed to know where it was.’
‘I often wished for a tunnel when I was riding through the forest on dark, moonless nights,’ Bevan Brumm said. He had been a merchant when he was alive, and had travelled widely. ‘There’s nothing worse than expecting a bandit to leap out from behind every tree.’
Tommy gulped. ‘I hope I never have to travel through a forest on a dark, moonless night,’ she said.
‘If you ever do, you can take me with you, Sword Girl,’ Jasper offered.
‘Thanks, Jasper, I will,’ said Tommy as a voice called, ‘Hello? Is anyone here?’
Tommy ran to the door to see Sir Hugh pacing around the armoury.
‘Hello, Sir Hugh. There’s just me here, sir – Smith is in town. Can I help you?’
The knight held out his sword. ‘Indeed you can, Tommy. I need my sword sharpened, and there’ll be twenty more to be readied, too.’
‘Twenty swords?’ Tommy said in surprise. Just when she’d thought things would be quiet in the sword chamber!
‘That’s right, and as fast as you can.’ Sir Hugh’s expression was grim. ‘Yesterday Sir Benedict sent a couple of men out to patrol our western border and they’ve just returned with bad news.
They spied a raiding party of a dozen of Sir Malcolm the Mean’s knights from Malice Castle riding in our direction.’
Tommy put a hand to her mouth. ‘Sir Malcolm’s knights are coming here?’ she whispered.
‘Sir Malcolm must have heard that Flamant’s knights are away at the tournament at Roses,’ Sir Hugh said. ‘He obviously didn’t reckon on the fact that some of us would be staying behind. But Sir Walter and Sir Benedict are smarter than that. I’m taking twenty men out to confront the raiding party. How soon can you have our swords ready?’
Within half an hour the armoury was as busy as it had ever been. Smith had returned from town to find Tommy hard at work. When she had explained why she suddenly had twenty swords to sharpen, the smith had immediately picked up a file and begun to help her. They worked side by side until finally, just as the sun was sinking beneath the battlements, they were ready.
Tommy could hear the stamping of hooves on the flagstones outside as Sir Hugh and his knights brought their horses round then hastened into the armoury to collect their swords.
After the last man had mounted his horse, Tommy and Smith followed them through the castle gate and onto the bridge. This time Tommy didn’t wave cheerfully as she watched the small band of knights gallop towards the setting sun.
‘Do you think they’ll be able to fight off Sir Malcolm’s raiding party, Smith?’ she asked.
Smith let out a heavy sigh. ‘Let’s hope so, Sword Girl,’ he said. ‘Because if they don’t, we’ve no one left to protect us.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FRANCES WATTS was born in the medieval city of Lausanne, in Switzerland, and moved to Australia when she was three. After studying literature at university she began working as an editor. Her bestselling picture books include Kisses for Daddy and the 2008 Children’s Book Council of Australia award-winner, Parsley Rabbit’s Book about Books (both illustrated by David Legge). Frances is also the author of a series about two very unlikely superheroes, Extraordinary Ernie and Marvellous Maud, and the highly acclaimed children’s fantasy/adventure series, the Gerander Trilogy.
Frances lives in Sydney’s inner west, and divides her time between writing and editing. Her cat doesn’t talk.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
GREGORY ROGERS has always loved art and drawing so it’s no surprise he became an illustrator. He was the first Australian to win the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal. The first of his popular wordless picture book series, The Boy, the Bear, the Baron, the Bard, was selected as one of the Ten Best Illustrated Picture Books of 2004 by the New York Times and short-listed for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award in 2005. The third book, The Hero of Little Street, won the CBCA Picture Book of the Year in 2010. Gregory loves movies and music, and is a collector of books, antiques and anything odd and unusual.
He lives in Brisbane above a bookshop cafe with his cat Sybil.
THE Terrible TRICKSTER
‘Tricksters are not welcome here.’
A trickster is turning life at Flamant Castle upside
down. Someone has put sneezing powder in the
knights’ soup and itching powder in Sir Walter’s sheets
and changed the salt for sugar in Mrs Moon’s kitchen.
At first the tricks seem funny, but Sir Benedict is not
amused. He thinks the trickster is Tommy – and unless
the tricks stop, he will send her away from the castle!
Can she find out who the real trickster is before
she is banished forever?
COMING IN APRIL 2013
Pigeon PROBLEMS
‘The pigeon is missing!’
It’s Lady Beatrix’s birthday, and Sir Walter is
planning a celebration at Flamant Castle. There will
be games and competitions and a big surprise party.
Everyone at the castle is excited … except the pigeon.
But the pigeon is needed for a very special job – and
when he goes missing, it looks like Sir Walter’s plans
will be ruined. Can Tommy find her friend and
save the celebrations?
COMING IN APRIL 2013
Tournament Trouble: Sword Girl Book 3 Page 4