‘Please don’t be afraid of me,’ the voice begged.
‘Where are you?’ Ellin stammered, resisting the impulse to flee. ‘And what are you?’
‘Your Highness, there is no time. Please. It is Flynn. He has been hurt.’
‘Flynn?’ Ellin repeated, shocked, forgetting she was talking to a shimmering column of air.
‘D’Vorg attacked him,’ the voice said. ‘You are the only one who can hear me. You must come quickly and help. He is surely badly injured.’
‘How do I know I can trust you?’ Ellin asked. ‘I can’t even see you.’
‘But you can hear me, that’s all that matters for now. My name is Lex. And I’m a friend of Flynn’s and I know you trust him. Please hurry, Highness. I will explain everything later, I promise. They are below the granary storerooms. He could be dead!’ She hesitated and suddenly Lex was yelling into her ear. ‘Hurry!’
Ellin was startled into a run, and ignoring her instinct not to follow the orders of an invisible voice, she hurtled past confused servants and frowning soldiers.
‘Ah, Princess Ellin –’ Master Thurrabow said, as he spied her.
But Ellin whizzed past him, spinning him round on his heel.
‘Hurry,’ Lex urged, keeping easy pace with her.
‘Follow me,’ Ellin ordered a page, who was scuttling across the yard on an errand. He hesitated, obviously weighing up what might be worse – not finishing the errand or disobeying the Princess.
‘Now!’ she yelled over her shoulder, and the boy made his choice, scurrying alongside her.
They skidded around the side of the granary buildings and there, as her invisible companion had assured, she found Flynn horribly still and prone on the ground with his eyes closed. His normally sun-browned complexion looked unnaturally pale, his lips near enough bloodless. Meanwhile, Orin d’Vorg was dusting himself down.
‘Orin!’ Ellin said, in a near whisper, not wanting to believe what she was looking at. ‘What happened?’
‘He fell off the roof,’ Orin answered, with a hint of defiance.
‘Liar!’ shouted the voice Ellin knew only she could hear. It was the same voice that had spoken to her earlier during the swordskills exhibition.
‘Fell?’ she said, kneeling by Flynn’s side. She put her face close to his mouth and felt a faint but welcome breath against her skin. Her hopes soared.
‘Nearly killed me in the bargain,’ Orin added, scowling.
Ellin ignored him and turned to the page. She recognised him now. He ran most of Master Thurrabow’s messages. ‘Alp?’
‘Yes, Your Highness,’ the boy answered. ‘Is Lord Jolien dead?’ he asked, unable to help himself.
‘He’s breathing,’ Ellin replied briskly, surprised by her composure. ‘Alp, find Physic Rankor immediately and send him here – brook no argument and use my name. As soon as you have done that, fetch Master Pilo and Master Reeve.’
The page stared at Flynn, wide eyed.
‘Now, Alp!’ Ellin snapped, and he skipped away as if scalded.
She turned to Orin. ‘Lord Jolien fell on you?’
‘Yes. I’ll have his skin for what was nearly a serious injury,’ he replied in a haughty tone.
‘He’s lying, Your Highness. I was on the roof. He threatened Flynn to his face,’ her new companion whispered.
‘Quiet,’ she said.
‘Pardon?’ Orin said.
‘Er, I said, he’s too quiet.’
‘His death would be no great loss,’ Orin said.
Her gaze narrowed at his heartless attitude. ‘And what were you doing on the roof, Lord d’Vorg?’
‘I wasn’t on the roof,’ Orin said, defensively. ‘I was passing when Jolien landed on me.’
‘I have it on good authority that you pushed Lord Jolien from the roof,’ Ellin said, hardly able to believe that she was taking the advice of her magical companion.
At first Orin just stared at her, astonished. Then he seemed to gather whatever wits he had and puffed out his chest. ‘Who is this good authority?’ He scowled, then quickly added, ‘Your Highness.’ He sneered, his face ugly and cruel.
She was saved from having to respond by the arrival of Physic Rankor, who was breathing hard.
‘Master Pilo is on his way, Your Highness. The boy said to tell you he’s off to fetch Master Reeve.’
She nodded, absently.
The physic hadn’t waited for Ellin’s permission and was already attending to Flynn.
‘Physic Rankor?’ Ellin said.
The doctor tutted. ‘This is not good,’ he murmured. ‘What happened here?’
‘I didn’t see it, Physic Rankor, but apparently Lord Jolien fell from that roof,’ she said, pointing.
The physic and Ellin looked up, but Orin kept his head bowed.
The physic spoke again. ‘He obviously hit his head hard in the fall, but I don’t know what to make of these marks,’ he said, gesturing to Flynn’s chest and ribcage.
Ellin had been politely looking away from Flynn’s chest, which the doctor had bared when he’d ripped open the youth’s shirt. But now she noticed the bruises.
‘Did he fall on his back?’ the physic asked.
Orin shrugged. ‘I suppose so. That’s the way he landed after hitting me.’
‘It doesn’t make sense,’ the physic replied, looking at Ellin. ‘His ribs look to be badly broken, his shoulder is dislocated, his arm is smashed. All these injuries suggest that something fell on him.’
‘Yes, Orin landed on him!’ Lex said.
‘Hush!’ Ellin whispered, her anxiety increasing as she regarded the physic’s grave expression. He didn’t look at all optimistic.
‘Highness, what’s going on here?’ It was Pilo arriving in a run. He wrapped his arms around Ellin, soothingly, but fixed his gaze on the physic. The doctor gave a small shake of his head.
‘I’m afraid there’s not much that can be done for the lad, Master Pilo,’ the physic said.
‘No! You have to do something. Please!’ Ellin said.
‘Are you certain, Physic Rankor?’ Pilo appealed.
‘I’m very sorry,’ the man said, gently. ‘He has taken a severe blow to the head. I’m afraid he is now in a sleep from which he may not wake.’
Ellin surprised everyone by grabbing the physic’s robe. ‘But he is alive,’ she protested. ‘I see his chest moving, I feel his breath on my face. I see colour returning to his cheeks. Surely there is still hope?’ Her own chest was heaving with emotion.
Physic Rankor let her pound her fists against him until Pilo pulled her gently back. ‘Stop, Ellin,’ Pilo said, quietly.
She became as still as a palace gargoyle and she took a deep breath to steady herself before she raised a hand and pointed. ‘Orin d’Vorg pushed Flynn Jolien from this roof. He must be punished.’
‘She’s a liar!’ Orin snarled.
Physic Rankor gasped, clearly shocked that any Drestonian would speak to one of the royals in this way.
‘D’Vorg! Be careful!’ Pilo warned, his voice eerily calm. He turned to Ellin. ‘Your Highness, did you see this event occur?’
‘No. But someone I know did.’ Then she baffled those standing around her by addressing a question to thin air. ‘What is your name, again?’
‘Lex, Your Highness,’ came the answer. ‘I am the Rumpelgeist.’
‘Yes, I guessed as much,’ Ellin said, far more calmly than she felt. She nodded towards Flynn, feeling a fresh rush of sadness as she noticed a tuft of his golden hair that had fallen across his face. She remembered how cautious Flynn had been when discussing the Rumpelgeist, the fact that he’d let slip that the ghost-rattler was a male, that he may even have a name. And of course, their pact to meet later that day for him to tell her everything he knew about the Rumpelgeist. It all made sense. ‘Flynn can see you, can’t he?’ she said to Lex.
She knew everyone was staring at her astonished as she spoke to thin air.
‘Yes, Highness. He can see me but he
cannot hear me. Only you can,’ Lex said.
‘Highness,’ Pilo interrupted, his voice low and questioning. ‘Who are you speaking to?’
Ellin gave him a sad smile. ‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but you must trust me when I say that Orin is responsible for Flynn’s injuries.’
‘Jolien keeps talking into nothing like that too. I accused him of bringing the Rumpelgeist into our lives,’ Orin snarled. ‘It was a joke but he went mad at me.’
‘Flynn was calm throughout, never once raising his voice. In fact he appealed to Orin to leave. But Orin has plans to marry you, Your Highness. Be warned. He wants to rule,’ Lex remarked, acid in his tone.
‘He said that?’ she said astonished.
‘Yes.’
Orin pointed, his tone full of accusation. ‘You see, Master Pilo, Physic Rankor.’ He stabbed a finger towards the Princess. ‘She’s doing it again. I swear she’s talking to the Rumpelgeist. You ask her. She and Flynn have cursed Floris.’
Pilo made a growling sound as he stood abruptly and poked Orin in the chest. ‘“She” and “her” happen to be Her Royal Highness to you, d’Vorg. You’d best remember that or you may find yourself thrown out of the royal court, not just the coterie.’
D’Vorg looked back at Pilo sulkily but Ellin ignored them. She knelt down beside Flynn again. He looked so peaceful. His eyes were closed and she noticed his lashes were long and tipped with gold. She tried to remember the pale, clear blue eyes that had sparkled when he’d teased her that morning. She’d only just found him as a friend. She wasn’t ready to lose him.
10
Alp returned, accompanied by palace guards as well as by Master Reeve, who was wearing an expression of pure thunder. He glared at Orin but said nothing as he bowed to Ellin. ‘Your Highness.’
Once again and with Pilo’s urgings Ellin told the story of what had happened, finishing with her accusation against Orin d’Vorg.
‘I tell you this is a lie,’ Orin spluttered, his face red. ‘You have no proof!’
‘Orin dropped his kerchief on the roof,’ Lex said to Ellin. ‘Tell them to check. He also left behind his apple core near one of the chimneys directly above us.’
Ellin stood up. ‘May I suggest you send one of the guards up to check the roof?’ she said to Master Reeve. ‘I suspect they will find evidence of d’Vorg’s presence up there, including his kerchief and an apple core.’
‘I saw Orin d’Vorg steal an apple from the kitchen not so long ago,’ Alp murmured to the company, and Ellin cast him a sad smile of thanks.
‘I will send someone to check,’ Master Reeve said. ‘Lord d’Vorg, so help me, I’d better not learn that you were involved in this ugly incident.’
‘He fell on me,’ Orin said to Master Reeve’s retreating back. ‘You should be concerned about my health! Has someone called my mother?’ he demanded.
‘Not another word,’ Pilo said. ‘If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stand there quietly until we’ve heard back from the guards.’
Ellin watched as Flynn’s limp body, supported by three burly men and the physic, was carried away to the palace infirmary.
‘He could regain consciousness,’ Ellin muttered to no one in particular.
‘Are you talking to me now?’ Pilo asked. When she didn’t answer him, he tried a new approach. ‘Highness, perhaps you should return to your chambers and –’
‘No, Pilo. Time to act adult, remember. I will stay here and see this through. I want to see justice served and Orin d’Vorg punished.’
Pilo gave her a look that stopped whatever else she was going to say. ‘No matter how bad it looks, we don’t know the facts. We were not here, Your Highness.’
‘I told you,’ Ellin said. ‘There is a witness.’
Master Reeve returned before anything more could be said. In his hand was a kerchief.
‘I think this is yours, d’Vorg,’ he said, holding it up with a look of disgust. ‘It has your initials embroidered on it. We also found the apple core precisely where you said we would, Your Highness.’
Orin began babbling denials, but it was clear to all that he had been defeated.
Ellin hoped Orin would go quietly, but she wasn’t surprised when he took one last jab.
‘Jolien was in league with the ghost-rattler!’ Orin accused. ‘I tell you, he was the one who invited the curse of the Rumpelgeist into our lives! He probably encouraged it to take the children so he could look like a hero when he controlled it.’
‘I’m appalled at you,’ Ellin said, shaking her head.
As Orin was hauled away, Pilo turned his attention to Ellin. His gaze narrowed. ‘I take it you also know something about the Rumpelgeist,’ he said to her. ‘That was who you were speaking to earlier, wasn’t it?’
Ellin nodded tearily.
‘Come on,’ Pilo said. ‘We have to speak with the King immediately.’
King Lute turned to General Tash, supreme commander of the Drestonian Army in Griff’s absence, and asked him to give Master Pilo and the Crown Princess a moment in private. General Tash had bowed and said he would wait in the nearby courtyard.
Lute looked increasingly astonished as he listened to Ellin’s tale. He put down his gelfa juice and cleared his throat. ‘I was just briefing General Tash regarding the search for our missing children, but let me get this right, Ellin,’ he said. ‘You are in communication with this Rumpelgeist, who told you about the attack on Flynn Jolien?’
Ellin nodded. ‘He only spoke to me for the first time today. Until then, I’d had only a vague feeling of being watched,’ she qualified.
‘That’s true, in fairness Ellin did mention her suspicion to me this morning,’ Pilo said to assure the King that no one was hiding anything.
‘And you believe Flynn can see him,’ Lute continued.
‘Again, Father, I had my first suspicion only this morning. But I asked Lex – the Rumpelgeist – on the way over whether Flynn was the first person he found who could see him and he confirmed it was so. They met a couple of days ago. I was the first person he found who could hear him, and that was this afternoon in the bailey.’
‘And the Rumpelgeist is in the room with us now, is that correct?’ the King continued.
Again, Ellin nodded, knowing how strange her story sounded.
Both men looked around suspiciously.
‘How did he know you would possess the magic that allows you to hear him?’ Pilo asked.
‘He can hear you as well,’ Ellin mentioned. She turned and spoke to the air next to her. ‘I don’t think you did know for sure, did you, Lex?’
The two men watched her frown as she listened to a voice they couldn’t hear.
She turned back to her father. ‘Apparently he’s been searching for anyone who could hear or see him,’ Ellin relayed. ‘Lex has been causing havoc in Floris in the hope that someone would possess the wit to notice him. He found Flynn first.’
‘Lex?’ Pilo repeated. She nodded. ‘Lex, as in the wheatfarmer’s son? The one who is sitting his exams?’
‘That’s me, yes,’ Lex said to Ellin. ‘And I need yours and Flynn’s help.’
‘Yes, that’s who he is and he says he needs Flynn and me to help him.’
‘Help him with what?’ the King asked.
Ellin paused to listen to Lex.
‘Lex wants me to ask if the name Grevilya means anything to either of you.’
Both men looked shocked at the mention of the name.
‘I see it does,’ Ellin said. ‘Who is she?’
Lute looked to Pilo. ‘You know more than I,’ he said.
Pilo obliged. ‘She’s a witch, and not a very nice one. Do you remember us speaking about Bitter Olof and Calico Grace?’
‘Of course. Drestonia’s infamous outlaw and his equally infamous wife,’ Ellin said. ‘I’ve always hoped to meet them.’
‘They came for your birth celebrations. And you would have seen them again if they didn’t spend their lives sailing the
seas in search of the witch who stole their looks,’ Pilo explained.
Ellin’s eyes widened as understanding dawned on her. ‘This Grevilya that Lex speaks of is the same witch they’re hunting for?’ she said.
Lute frowned. ‘One and the same. How does Lex know her?’
They waited.
Ellin looked worried. ‘He says Grevilya is luring the children of Floris away. She’s stealing them and then trapping them by making them invisible, so even if they could escape they’d find it impossible to make themselves known to those who love them,’ Ellin said.
Her father’s face turned ashen. ‘Why?’
‘To punish the Crown apparently,’ she repeated, looking at her father bewildered.
‘For what?’ Lute demanded, barely allowing Ellin to finish.
‘It doesn’t matter, my king,’ Pilo soothed. ‘The fact is Grevilya believes in her reasons. More importantly, how did Lex escape?’ he queried.
Ellin paused to listen again.
‘He says that unlike the other children he wasn’t scared of her and was prepared to risk her wrath. She sent him on the mission to spook the city but he used it to his own ends to search for … well, I suppose for Flynn and myself,’ Ellin said, shrugging. She listened. ‘He’s saying he didn’t expect to have to find two people with different skills but he’s grateful he has.’
‘Lex Jervis is a clever lad by all accounts,’ Pilo whispered to the King.
Ellin gave Pilo an exasperated look that told him if she could hear him, so could Lex.
Nevertheless, the King didn’t look entirely convinced or ready to give himself over to this tale. ‘If he’s so clever, why didn’t he think to write a note to us? Instead he chose to haunt the city of Floris and cause a great deal of heartache.’
The men waited for Lex to relay his message to Ellin.
‘Lex says a random note suddenly appearing, or one that looked as though it were writing itself would have been just as scary.’ She waited, listening. ‘Besides, he says it took all of his concentration and willpower just to be able to rattle gates and flick roof tiles. He managed to sign his name in the dust for Flynn and a few other single words. But holding a stylus and controlling it to write enough words that would have made sense would take many moons. Many moons that he doesn’t have,’ Ellin said, impatient with her father. ‘He’s not trying to hurt anyone, he’s trying to save the children.’
The Rumpelgeist Page 8