Second Term at Tall Towers

by Lou Kuenzler

  “We have to fetch Keeper Falcon,” she said. “He’s the school gamekeeper. He’ll know what we should do.”

  “No.” Hetty grabbed Grace’s hand. Her eyes were as wide and worried as Huffle’s. “If we tell Uncle Falcon, he’ll drive Huffle away. Just like her did with all the other dragons.”

  Grace remembered how Keeper Falcon had smiled when he told her he had got rid of every Coronet Crimson on the island. Grace felt her stomach twist with fear. She looked down at the tiny, helpless pup. Hetty was right. They would have to keep Huffle a secret – for the moment, at least.

  “He’s too small to do anyone any harm,” she said. “He can’t even fly off this ledge until his wings are stronger.” She looked at the steep cliff face that rose above them, and the deep drop to the sea below. “The only way anyone can reach him out here is if they come through the cave.”

  “And no one’s going to do that,” said Hetty, clapping her hands again. “The entrance is hidden by all that ivy.”

  “And the Gemstone Glade is so secret, nobody from Tall Towers ever goes there anyway,” said Grace. “The princesses will be safe. Huffle is only a baby, and we will be the only people who come anywhere near him.”

  The two girls hugged in excitement, being very careful not to go anywhere near the edge of the wide ledge.

  “The first thing we need to do is find Huffle something to eat,” said Grace, crouching beside him. “And we’ll have to keep the nest wet too.”

  Huff. The little dragon cried out again, but quieter this time. Weaker. He curled up in the nest, his little sides puffing up and down. It was impossible to imagine he would ever grow up to be a fierce fire-breathing beast: right now he was more like a poorly puppy.

  Even Flump crept a little closer to look, his head on one side.

  “Poor Huffle. He’s so hungry,” said Hetty. “But what does a baby dragon eat?”

  “Milk!” said Grace, jumping up so fast that she almost tripped over Flump. “All babies like milk. If we feed him some of that he’ll be strong again in no time.”

  “Where are we going to get milk from?” asked Hetty.

  “Yaks?” suggested Grace.

  “There aren’t any yaks on Coronet Island, silly,” giggled Hetty.

  “Cows, then,” said Grace. “There’s a school dairy herd. They graze in the field behind the stables. Come on.”

  Grace blew a little kiss to Huffle.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “We’ll be back here with a bucket of frothy milk in no time. I may not be very good at dancing, but I do know how to milk a yak … or a cow. I expect it works just the same way!”

  “You can’t do that,” gasped Hetty. “You’re a pupil at Tall Towers. You’re royal… You’re…

  “A princess?” grinned Grace. “That doesn’t mean I can’t get my hands a tiny bit dirty!”

  The girls were so excited that they almost ran back through the cave, tripping in the darkness as they hurried towards the bright light outside.

  Flump had already bolted out into the Gemstone Glade, determined to get as far away from the little dragon as he could.

  “Don’t worry, Huffle. We’ll be back soon,” Grace called over her shoulder.

  Her mind was whirling like a spinning ballerina.

  They had a real dragon pup to look after: a secret only she and Hetty could know about. It was just about the most brilliant thing that had ever happened to her.

  “All we need to do is jump on Billy and ride to the cow pasture,” she said.

  But as they stepped out into the sunny glade, Hetty’s face turned as white as a bucket of milk.

  “But where is Billy?” she gasped. “I tied him to that tree. I know I did. I used the special safety knot you taught me.”

  Grace stared at the birch tree. There was no sign of Billy, just a frayed length of rope, no longer than a hair ribbon.

  “I’m so sorry.” Hetty’s eyes filled with tears. “I really thought I tied him properly.”

  “I’m sure you did,” smiled Grace kindly. She felt the end of the rope. It was damp and soggy. “Just as I thought. Billy’s chewed right through this,” she said. “There was nothing you could have done to stop him.”

  She glanced around the glade, but the naughty unicorn was long gone.

  “He’s so greedy, I’ll bet he’s headed back to the stable to see if there’s any fresh peaches in his trough,” she sighed. “Come on. We’d better find him.”

  They heard hooves approaching behind them and turned round. But it wasn’t Billy. It was Chalky, the unicorn foal. He followed close behind Hetty, trotting to catch up whenever she walked faster.

  “You really have got a friend there,” laughed Grace as they hurried through the trees.

  She wasn’t too worried about Billy; she was sure he had just become tired of waiting and taken himself back to Tall Towers.

  But as they came out of the woods, she heard someone calling on the path.

  “Grace? Grace? Are you there?”

  “Izumi?” Grace answered the call.

  “Are you all right?” It was Scarlet shouting now. And, a moment later, Grace’s friends came hurrying round the corner.

  “Are you hurt?” asked Izumi.

  “We were worried you’d had a fall,” explained Scarlet. “Billy came charging down the drive towards school. When we saw he had no rider we thought something terrible might have happened.”

  She pointed back down the track. Precious appeared, riding Billy side-saddle towards them. She was holding his reins far too tight and Billy was tossing his head furiously.

  “But you didn’t fall off, did you, Grace?” sneered Precious, pulling even harder so that Billy came to a stop. “You weren’t even riding, were you?”

  “No. Billy was tied to a tree,” said Grace, trying desperately not to mention either the Gemstone Glade or the dragon pup. “Hetty and I were just…”

  “Having a riding lesson!” said Precious cutting right across her. “Look!”

  She slid to the ground and held out the stirrup leathers. Anyone could see they were far too short for Grace’s long, spindly legs.

  Precious glared at Hetty. “The only person who could have needed stirrups this short is that servant child.”

  Hetty had risen up on tiptoes and was stretching her neck in the air just like the unicorn foal, who was still right behind her. It did nothing to make her look taller.

  “I’m sure Hetty wasn’t riding,” said Izumi. “Only princesses are allowed to ride unicorns.”

  Grace threw her hands in the air. Honestly, was Izumi going to be just as snobby as Precious? She had never thought her friend would care about silly rules like that. And now Scarlet was joining in too.

  “Grace definitely knows that nobody except a princess is ever allowed to ride a unicorn,” she said gently.

  “I didn’t, actually. Not until recently,” snapped Grace. Perhaps she was better off not being friends with any princesses if they were all going to be like this. “I think rules like that should…”

  “Should be obeyed,” said Izumi quickly. “That’s what you think, isn’t it Grace?” She coughed as if she had something caught in her throat.

  “Oh!” Suddenly Grace understood. Scarlet and Izumi didn’t think it was wrong for Hetty to have a go on Billy if she wanted to. Of course they didn’t. Grace should have known them better than that. They just didn’t want Precious to cause trouble.

  “Hetty knows she isn’t allowed to ride a unicorn. Don’t you?” smiled Scarlet, crouching down so that she was almost the same height as the little girl.

  Hetty shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head again as if she didn’t know whether to tell the truth to Precious or agree with Scarlet’s excuses. In the end she settled for a curtsy to both of them.

  “Have you seen the lovely foal who is following her … I mean us,” said Grace, pointing at Chalky to change the subject. She shot Scarlet and Izumi a quick smile of thanks.

  “He’
s gorgeous,” said Izumi. “As white as moonlight.”

  “And look at his cute little horn,” cooed Scarlet.

  “He is beautiful, isn’t he?” agreed Hetty. She stretched out her hand to stroke his nose.

  “Don’t touch him!” shrieked Precious. At that, the unicorn turned and galloped away into the woods.

  “You frightened him,” cried Scarlet.

  “And Billy too,” said Grace, taking her own unicorn away from Precious.

  “A servant has no right to even touch a unicorn,” snapped Precious. “I know what you’ve been up to here, Grace. You and your little friend.”

  Grace felt her heart thud hard against her chest. Had Precious followed them? Surely she didn’t know about the dragon pup? There was no way she could have found out about that.

  “I know you’ve been giving that girl riding lessons,” said Precious, waving her hand towards Hetty. “I’ll find a way to prove it. Then I’ll report you to Flintheart.”

  Grace felt her shoulders relax. Precious had no idea about Huffle – she was still just talking about breaking silly royal rules.

  “You’ll probably be expelled,” snarled Precious, turning on her heel and storming away down the path.

  “Oh dear, I think you’ve upset her,” smiled Izumi when Precious was out of sight.

  Scarlet, who was always a terrible giggler, began to laugh.

  Soon Grace was laughing too, and even Hetty joined in.

  “Only a princess is allowed to ride a unicorn,” mimicked Izumi, sticking her nose in the air and flicking her short black fringe so that for a moment it was possible to imagine she had Precious’s long butter-yellow curls.

  “Thank you both for sticking up for us,” said Grace.

  “That’s what friends do,” shrugged Scarlet. And the three of them threw their arms around each other in an enormous hug.

  “I should have known you’d never be as stuck up as Precious,” said Grace.

  “So we’re friends again?” said Izumi.

  “Of course,” said Grace and they hugged each other all over again.

  Grace could have skipped for joy as they headed along the path towards school. She was back with her two best friends at last. Hetty was just behind them, leading Billy – she didn’t dare to ride him in case Precious came back. Flump was bounding along ahead. Everything was perfect.

  “So where did you have your riding lesson?” asked Izumi. “Was it somewhere top secret?”

  Grace felt a cloud pass over her again.

  “Oh, nowhere special,” she heard herself say.

  She knew Izumi would love to see the Gemstone Glade. She would be desperate to paint the beautiful flowers. But Grace couldn’t risk taking her there. Not while Huffle was hidden on the ledge beyond the cave. Izumi might be happy to help break a silly, unfair rule like the one that said only princesses were allowed to ride a unicorn. But she was much more sensible than Grace. She’d be bound to report a dragon to the school – even if it was only a pup, small enough to fit into the little chest where she kept her paints.

  “Yes, tell us all the fun things you two got up to,” said Scarlet, smiling at Hetty and Grace.

  “Nothing much,” said Grace quickly. She felt the cloud hovering over her grow darker still. But she definitely couldn’t tell Scarlet about the dragon. The red-haired princess was so nervous she’d probably run screaming right to school.

  “Oh,” said Scarlet.

  “Right,” said Izumi.

  Her two friends could tell that Grace was holding something back.

  “Well, I’d better take Billy to the stables,” said Grace. “Hetty can help me.”

  She didn’t want the girls to come in case they saw her trying to milk the cows. She knew she had to feed Huffle soon.

  “We’ll see you later,” said Scarlet, sounding a little sad.

  “Yes,” said Grace. “Of course.”

  But the secret of the dragon pup was rippling inside her. As she watched Scarlet and Izumi turn towards school, it was as though she could feel the friendship drifting away again. She wanted to tell them everything.

  She knew she couldn’t.

  She had promised she would keep that little dragon pup safe.

  As soon as Billy was settled safely in his stable, Hetty and Grace slipped under the fence and into the field of cows. Grace was carrying an empty water bucket.

  “We can take the milk back to Huffle in this,” she said.

  She crept around the far side of one of the big black-and-white cows so that if anyone came down to the stables they wouldn’t be able to see her.

  “All right, old girl?” she said, gently patting the cow’s rump as she knelt beside her udder and began to milk.

  “I never thought I’d see a princess doing this,” giggled Hetty.

  Grace looked at the ground. She had found a clean spot to kneel on, but there was mud and puddles all around. Not to mention worse things that the cows had left behind.

  “Can you imagine if we had milking lessons for every Tall Towers princess?” laughed Grace, picturing the girls in their pretty white pinafores. “At least I wouldn’t be such a terrible student then. I’ve had plenty of practice with the yaks at home.”

  Flump, who had followed them into the field, plucked up his courage and tried to sniff the end of a cow’s nose.

  Moo! The cow blew back at him.

  Poor Flump sprang into the air and ran yelping in a wild circle.

  That set the cows charging in all directions too.

  “Steady,” soothed Grace, patting the one she was milking. But it was hopeless. The big cow joined her friends.

  “Whoa! Grab the milk, Hetty!” cried Grace, but it was too late to save herself. As the cow charged forward, Grace toppled over – splat! – head-first into a muddy puddle.

  “Oh dear! You do look funny.” Hetty was shaking so hard with laughter that milk was slopping out of the pail.

  Thick, brown mud was spattered all down the front of Grace’s clothes and puddle water dripped from the end of her plaits. “Now I really am a disgrace!” she said, throwing her head back and laughing as hard as Hetty.

  Flump, who was even filthier, jumped into Grace’s arms for protection from the cows. “Look out!” cried Hetty. Grace toppled over backwards this time. Splat!

  Now all of her was covered in mud.

  “I look like a monster from the swamp,” she groaned, standing up dripping.

  “Save me, Flump!” cried Hetty pretending to be terrified and running away screaming.

  “Grrr!” roared Grace, chasing her towards the gate.

  But a moment later there was a real scream.

  It was Precious peering out from the stable yard. “Look at the state of you,” she squealed.

  “Goodness, what happened?” asked Scarlet as Grace oozed and squelched her way up the stairs to their attic dormitory high in the top of the tower.

  “Er…” Grace decided it was best to stick to the truth as much as possible, so long as she didn’t have to mention a certain baby dragon. “I fell over in the cow field … and then Flump jumped on me,” she said.

  “What were you doing in the cow field in the first place?” laughed Izumi.

  “Oh, nothing much,” blushed Grace. This was getting harder and harder. She wished she could tell her friends the whole truth.

  “I’ll tell you what she was doing,” said Precious, who came panting up the stairs after Grace. “She was helping that servant child to steal a bucket of milk. She’s so scruffy and poor I bet she doesn’t have enough to eat.”

  “That’s terrible,” said Scarlet and Izumi together.

  “Yes, isn’t it? The horrible little thief,” crowed Precious.

  “We meant it’s terrible if Hetty doesn’t have enough food,” sighed Izumi. “Poor thing.”

  “It’s not like that,” said Grace, desperately.

  “A thief is a thief,” snapped Precious. “I’m going to tell Flintheart.”

  “
Hetty wasn’t stealing anything,” said Grace. She shook her head so that muddy water flew off the end of her plaits in all directions and the girls had to duck. “Sorry!” she said.

  “Watch what you’re doing,” screamed Precious, who was sprayed in the eye.

  “Hetty has plenty to eat,” Grace explained. The only hungry one was the poor dragon pup waiting desperately for them on the cliff. Grace thought as fast as she could.

  “I was the one who wanted the milk,” she said. “I … er … I heard it could make a unicorn’s mane shine like moonlight. I … er … thought I’d try washing Billy and see if it was true.”

  “Silly thing,” laughed Scarlet.

  “It’s not milk, it’s morning dew that makes a unicorn’s mane shine,” smiled Izumi.

  “Oh, right,” said Grace. Perhaps it was a good thing after all that her friends thought she was a little hopeless. At least they were ready to believe her lie.

  “Idiot,” snarled Precious. “You really don’t know anything do you? I’m still telling Fairy Godmother Flint…”

  “Still telling me what?” said a stern voice at the door. The fairy godmother herself appeared in the room.

  “Telling you that I was the one who made the mess on the stairs,” said Grace, pushing forward quickly before Precious could say a word.

  “I think I can see that for myself,” said Flintheart, glaring down her long, thin nose at Grace, who was still dripping mud in a pool around her feet. “Get yourself cleaned up and then you can scrub the floors until they shine like marble.”

  “Yes, Fairy Godmother,” nodded Grace.

  “But…” began Precious.

  “Out of here, the rest of you,” snapped Flintheart. “You’ll only make matters worse, spreading this muck and muddle everywhere. Go on. Shoo!”

  Scarlet stepped forward and spoke up in a tiny voice. “Couldn’t we help Grace, Fairy Godmother? Then the job would be done twice as fast.”

  “Certainly not!” barked Flintheart. “Grace has to learn a lesson. Real princesses do not walk around looking like pigs in a sty. If I find anyone helping her, Grace will scrub every stairway in this school.”

  “We’re going,” said Izumi, grabbing Scarlet’s arm. They dashed away in a flash. Grace knew her friends were only being kind. Tall Towers had a lot of stairs. They would make things worse if they tried to stay.