“Isn’t the tower guarded?” asked Mally in surprise.
“By two knights.” Lita grinned at Mally’s lack of calm. “Don’t worry, you haven’t seen Olive swing a frying pan.”
Mally spotted Olive standing back a short ways. At Lita’s words, she blushed slightly, but she didn’t return Mally’s tentative smile. She must be terrified, Mally thought. Then she realized who was missing.
“Where’s Dr. Keaden?” She wasn’t quite sure if she was glad he wasn’t there, or disappointed.
“With Bob,” said Galen. He couldn’t seem to stop smiling at her. Unable to help herself, she grinned back.
“Enough of this nonsense!” Maud croaked.
Mally jumped and turned to the old woman. Maud’s presence had been completely forgotten. Now the imposing woman shuffled into the candlelight and glared at Mally.
“Are you going to the king or not?”
Mally swallowed, aware of all the eyes on her. She nodded. Instead of a cheer, tension filled the room.
“The time’s come,” Egan spoke to the silent room. “Olive, Garren and I will go to the Bell Tower.”
“We’ll need more than the three of us to take that tower,” Olive said, her eyes upon the large group from Blighten.
Allen followed her gaze and said quickly, “Stuart! Caleb! Go with them.”
Two men stepped from the large group.
“Galen,” Egan continued. “You, Mally, Lita, and Edwin will go to the castle. Now that we know there is a secret passage to the dungeons, don’t bother waiting on the bells to sound. Get a headstart.”
“We need to get our weapons,” Allen reminded Egan swiftly.
“Daniel,” Egan turned to the rebel that had been uninjured in the ambush. “Go with Allen and the rest of his group to their wagons. After they retrieve them, show them to the shed Lita told us about. You remember where the hidden door is?”
Daniel nodded.
“Good. When you reach the shed, wait for the bells before you rush into the castle. Is everything understood?” he demanded of the large group.
There were serious nods and murmurs of agreement. Egan and Garren passed Stuart and Caleb two shovels. Mally saw Olive pick up a large frying pan in one hand and gingerly hold a butcher’s knife in the other.
Mally, Galen, Lita, and Edwin were the first to climb the stairs, closely followed by the rest. Mally and her group left Maud’s shop and hurried down the alley while Egan, Garren, Olive, Stuart and Caleb turned left, toward the Bell Tower.
Mally and her group slipped down the city streets as silently as ghosts until they came to the thicket that hid the crumbling shed from the view of the castle’s walls. Mally, Lita, Galen, and Edwin disappeared through the hidden door in the side of the shed.
“We’re positive the knights don’t know about this passage?” Galen asked as they traveled in single file down the dark tunnel. The torch Mally held threw light about them. She glanced at him and was sure he was imagining a horde of knights, swords raised, waiting in the cellar.
“Positive.”
“We’ll need to find Meriyal,” said Lita. “I don’t know how easy that will be.”
When they reached the trapdoor to the cellar, Mally extinguished the torch and nervously, she and Galen lifted the floorboard. Cautiously, they peered over the edge into the gloomy room. No boots entered their line of vision nor did they hear any voices. Breathing a sigh of relief, they slid the board over and climbed out of the tunnel. The cellar was empty. They sprinted to one wall of the cellar and walked bent over, staying hidden behind the huge barrels. They reached the stairs that led to the kitchen but Mally stumbled to a halt: there were voices issuing from Archie’s kitchen.
“See here, Diggleby, I’m searching your kitchen no matter what you say!”
Mally’s heart nearly stopped as she and the others ducked down behind a rack of cheddars the size of wagon wheels.
“If you must, but you may see a change in the quality of your food, Bayard!” Archie snapped back.
Footsteps thudded on the top of the stairs and Mally shrunk against the wall. She felt Galen pressed against her arm. She shot a glance at Lita who looked to be barely breathing.
“You don’t go down there, Gibbs!” Archie yelled furiously.
“Ah, hiding something among the hams?” Bayard sneered. “Worried about us finding someone?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Archie humphed. “My concern is for the safety of my meads with that creature alone with them.”
Gibbs’ chuckle bubbled down the stairs to Mally.
“Everything must be tasted, Archie. Tasted.”
“You taste anything and I’ll hit you with a pot!” Archie threatened.
There was loud laughter and then Bayard’s voice was heard over the noise.
“Then you go, Diggleby, and Gibbs and Rendle will go with you. Take care not to bump into anything,” he added with a sneer.
Mally and Lita looked at each other and it was clear the same question was running through their heads: how were they going to get past the knights into the kitchen? There was no choice, but to wait for them to leave.
“There is nothing in my kitchen or down here,” Archie grumbled as he followed Gibbs and Sir Brian down the stairs into the cellar. He carried a large, silver ladle in one hand.
“Don’t lie, Diggleby,” Sir Brian spat, looking behind a barrel of mead. “We know how fond you were of those two wretches.”
Mally blinked in surprise. She had never heard Sir Brian sound so dangerous. But he was a knight, she reminded herself with cold embarrassment. Perhaps she had been wrong all along. Perhaps he hadn’t been the one to leave gold in her mother’s tea container.
And the owner of that inn had been right. They were looking for them. A knight had seen Mally and Lita with the rebels during the ambush.
“I tell you, they ain’t here!” Archie barked. “Be careful with that! Don’t touch those vinegars—you might drop one! And you! Get away from those!” Mally watched Archie rush to a section of cured hams that Gibbs was eyeing.
Sir Brian snorted in distaste. His eyes moved to the rack of cheddars where Mally and the others hid, and Mally saw through a gap in the wheels of cheese, his eyes narrow. Her pulse pounding, she watched him stride straight toward them.
“OUCH! Now see here, Diggleby!”
Two steps away from where Mally and the others crouched, Sir Brian spun around as a loud clang and oath issued behind him. It seemed Gibbs had tried to take a bite out of a ham and Archie, true to his word, had smacked Gibbs over the head with his silver ladle.
“I’ll have your neck!” Gibbs screamed, rubbing his scalp with one hand and fumbling for his sword with the other.
“Go ahead!” Archie yelled, his eyes burning with a wild gleefulness, his ladle held high for another wallop. “That way I’ll never cure another ham for you to slobber over!”
Sir Brian strode over to the two snarling men. He looked like he was having a difficult time keeping his face straight.
“What’s going on down there?” Bayard yelled from the top of the stairs. He must have heard Gibbs and Archie shouting. “Did you find them?”
“No. There isn’t anyone here,” said Rendle. “Come on, Leon.”
Gibbs, his face like a great beet, humphed and marched past Archie, but he was sure to bump into Archie’s shoulder fiercely. Not bothering to hide his smirk, Sir Brian followed him up the stairs.
Mally expelled the breath that she had been holding. Galen and the others all had their mouths open.
Archie, looking distinctly ruffled, snorted, making his large mustache flutter. “Touch my hams,” he threatened under his breath.
He started for the stairs, but caught a sudden movement behind the cheese.
“Mally! Lita!” He gasped. He hurried to them as they rose. “You shouldn’t be here! They’re looking for you two—they think you’re rebels! And … the Dunker boys?” Archie stared in a mixture of shock and confusion at Galen and
Edwin.
“We know Molick is after us,” said Lita, looking ashen.
“Galen and Edwin are here to help,” said Mally. “We’re releasing the prisoners.”
“Releasing—” Archie turned white. “You’ll get yourselves killed!”
“Oh, I don’t know, Archie,” said Lita with her old humor. “Maybe you can show me your technique with that ladle.”
Archie’s mustache bristled, but his eyes shined with fondness.
“Wait for me to clear the kitchen.”
And with his flour-dusted apron whipping about him, he rushed up the stairs. Mally and the others stood hunched behind the cheese, listening.
“Are you finished rummaging through my kitchen?” Mally heard Archie demand irritably. There was jeering laughter and Bayard ordered a stop to the search. Heavy footsteps thudded above Mally’s head and then the sound softened until it was gone.
“Come,” Archie hissed, waving at them from the top of the stairs.
They ran up the stairs. The kitchen had been sorely treated. Pots and ladles were scattered on the floor, and flour covered everything. The kitchen looked like it had been in a snowstorm.
Archie turned on them immediately.
“There’s no way to get into those dungeons without detection,” he said firmly, hands on hips. “It’s suicide and I will not allow it.”
“Meriyal knows a secret passageway into them. Mildred and Evelyn, too,” Lita explained.
Archie’s eyes widened.
“We need to find them. Do you know where they are?” Mally asked.
“They would be extinguishing candles about now. Mildred always has the first floor—”
Mally and Lita stepped past Archie to pull back the painting of the bowl of fruit. Mally swung it open, revealing a narrow stone passageway lit with torches. Galen and Edwin dashed forward. Archie stared at them.
“But what’s going on?” he demanded.
Lita spun around with a jolly grin. “We’re rebels, Archie. And tonight we’re taking the kingdom back. Oh—and Mally’s the princess.”
Lita laughed as she shut the painting, blocking off Archie’s astonished face.
“Couldn’t have broken it to him lightly,” Mally smirked.
“I love surprising Archie!” Lita laughed.
“Can we get moving?” Galen asked, his voice tense.
They quickly walked down the passage. The lit torches fluttered as they swept by. The passage was so narrow that they were forced to walk in a single line. Lita led, closely followed by Mally, Galen, and Edwin.
The passage gently turned a corner and Lita stopped so suddenly that Mally, Galen and Edwin ran into her. Just as Galen was about to hiss in protest, Lita started pushing them frantically back down the passage.
“Gibbs!” she breathed.
Gibbs? For a second Mally didn’t understand her. They weren’t at the end of the passage. Not yet. How could Gibbs be in the passage?
Hiding huddled, Mally carefully looked around the corner. Sir Leon Gibbs, bright as day, stood in the center of their passage. He was alone, slowly revolving on his feet, softly humming.
Shocked, she turned back to her group. Gibbs knew a passage! Did this mean that no servant passage was safe? But no knight had met them on the way to the cellar—they must only know a few, Mally reasoned to her feverous brain.
“What now?” Lita mouthed.
Galen tugged Edwin closer to his side. They were trapped—they couldn’t go forward, but if they returned to Archie’s kitchen, they would be forced to travel through the main corridors.
Galen suddenly jerked.
“Egan!” he whispered hoarsely.
Mally felt dizzy. Egan and Allen and the others would be storming out of the cellar at any minute. Archie would show them this passage, thinking they would have the advantage! They had to get the passage open! They had to get Gibbs to leave. And there was only one thing Mally could think of.
“Get ready,” she hissed to them.
Lita and Edwin’s eyes widened.
Mally squared her shoulders and ran. Ran at full speed around the corner with Lita, Galen, and Edwin on her heels. Gibbs had his back to them and turned at the sound of their footsteps in surprise. But Mally had already passed him, pushing him out of her way. Lita, Galen, and Edwin had blown past before he could utter a sound, but Mally could hear his heavy breathing chasing after them.
Mally reached the end of the passage and wrenched the door open. She pushed the tapestry hiding it from view aside, but a startled yell made her turn. Edwin lay sprawled upon the floor. Galen lifted him, but Edwin gasped in pain and clutched his ankle. Farther down the passage, Mally saw Gibbs lumbering toward them like a winded bull.
As one she, Lita, and Galen grabbed Edwin and carried him through the tapestry into the dark and thankfully deserted corridor. Wheezing and gasping, Lita spotted a broom cupboard.
“There!” she pointed.
Awkwardly, they shuffled Edwin across the corridor and squeezed him inside amongst brooms and mops.
“You too, Galen!” Mally panted. “Hide!”
There was no more room left with Galen inside the cupboard and Mally knew Gibbs would burst through the tapestry any second. Before he could argue, Mally had shut the cupboard door in Galen’s sweaty face and with Lita, dashed down the corridor.
They ran and ducked behind statues at random moments before running again. Gibbs, Galen and Edwin were far behind them now. Completely out of breath, Mally sagged behind a giant vase. Lita doubled over beside her.
“Why—aren’t,” Lita wheezed, clutching her side, “the—knights—on us? Gibbs … should have alerted … them—by now.”
But Mally wasn’t thinking about that. The plan was unraveling. It would be chaos when the bells finally sounded. She turned toward Lita, her decision made.
“I’m going to the king.”
Lita stared at her as if she’d sprouted horns.
“What?”
“I need to talk to him. I need to tell him who I am.”
“Are you mad? He’ll kill you or turn you into Molick!”
“So you’ve changed your opinion of him, then?” Mally demanded. “You thought he wasn’t to blame for this!”
“I never said that!”
“He won’t hurt me. He isn’t Molick. I just want to give him a warning,” Mally explained. “Molick is the one who deserves the people’s fight, not the king. He’s been used by Molick and I want to let him make the decision to join us or flee.”
Mally finished her passionate whispering and stared at Lita, her gaze open but firm.
“I’m going whether you like it or not. But I’d like your company.”
Lita breathed through her nose in discomfort, clearly torn.
She nodded.
Warmth flared in Mally’s chest. They checked to make sure no knights had heard their whispered conversation before hurrying down the dark corridor.
She knew Lita thought her an idiot for it, but she wanted to give King Salir a warning. If the people found him … she just wanted to tell him what was about to happen. That the throne was her right by birth and he no longer had to be used by Molick. She wouldn’t even mind if he ran for it—leaving the kingdom was probably his safest option.
She just wanted to give him some time to act.
Mally and Lita turned a sharp corner and nearly screamed in alarm. Seconds later, her panicked mind catching up to her, Mally breathed deeply. They had bumped into Meriyal and Nanette, each in their dressing gowns, extinguishing the candles. Meriyal and Nanette had been caught by surprise as much as Mally and Lita had; Meriyal held a trembling hand to her breast and Nanette had flung the silver candle snuffer high in the air, preparing to attack.
“Mally! Lita!” Meriyal gasped, trying to slow her breathing. “You startled us horribly!”
“What are you doing here?” Nanette demanded fiercely, her eyes on Mally.
Mally blinked in surprise at Nanette’s uncharacteristic an
ger.
“Molick’s been looking for you two!” Meriyal whispered. “He believes you are rebel members.”
“We are,” said Lita, frowning at Nanette, too.
Meriyal gasped again.
Nanette hardly blinked. She continued to glower fiercely at Mally as if willing her to leave her presence just with her gaze alone.
“Something wrong?” Lita asked Nanette heatedly, offended by Nanette’s attitude.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Nanette hissed, speaking to Mally.
Lita bristled, annoyed at being ignored.
“Why shouldn’t she be here?” Lita argued. “She has every right to be here! We’re freeing the rebels tonight and fighting Molick!”
Meriyal gasped for the third time and paled substantially. Nanette’s color too dropped, but her eyes did not leave Mally’s face. It was as if she was trying to say something through her gaze … as if she didn’t want Meriyal and Lita to hear.
“You know …” Mally could hardly understand how Nanette would know, but her behavior suddenly struck her as being similar to Cayla’s. Cayla too did not approve of her returning to Bosc.
Nanette’s jaws clenched. Lita whipped her head around to look at Mally so fast, her braid flew through the air like a rope.
“She knows?”
Meriyal’s narrowed eyes stared at the three of them.
“Knows what? What do you know, Nanette?”
Nanette’s white lips thinned.
“She knows I’m the princess,” Mally answered for her.
Nanette closed her eyes; Meriyal literally stumbled backwards.
“What—is—is this true?” Meriyal demanded, her voice hoarse. Her wide eyes left Mally to land on Lita to finally focus on Nanette. “Is this true?”
“How did you know?” Mally asked Nanette.
With the three of them staring at her, Nanette seemed to find herself against a wall.
“Since Bayard attacked you,” she answered softly. “When Gladys was praising the uniqueness of your birthmark. I have seen it before. I saw it when Cayla gave you baths. Cayla didn’t like the mark very much. She found it unflattering and always made sure it was covered while you were in public.”
The Tale of Mally Biddle Page 31