“And you’re taking us back with you?”
“One day.”
He had, he hoped, although he could not yet be sure, released his parents. He had every intention of returning to Lashtang to find and meet them, to see the Darling brothers trapped in ice, and to discover more about who he was. But first of all he wanted to go home to Granny, Poppy and his own comfy and familiar bedroom. Even the hope of meeting his parents again didn’t seem real. Sometimes he still thought he must be dreaming.
“Reckon you better stay right here fer a day or three,” John said, nodding with determination. “Can’t go just yet, I reckon.”
“Maybe a day.” Nathan accepted the ginger biscuits which Alice was handing him, and a big pewter cup of heated apple cider. “It’s hard. I want to be here. I want to be with my sister and grandmother in my own home. And I want to be in Lashtang too.”
“And I reckon I got me own adventure to chase after,” John said, leaning forwards, elbows to his warm woollen knees. “T’was one o’ them Hazletts what told me I still had a father. Bin looking fer me fer years, he said. But it’s hard believing that, after them monks. I were brought up in that monastery cos they said I were found on a rubbish dump. Best place fer me, they reckons. So where were me Pa hiding, then?”
“Wiv a proper Pa,” objected Alfie, “how can some little brat what can’t walk yet end up on a dump?”
“So,” nodded Alice eagerly, “we’re all going to help John look for his real father. We’ll go back to the monastery first, and keep searching from there.”
“I’d love to help,” said Nathan, wondering if his knife might be able to solve puzzles like that. “But tomorrow I really do have to leave. I’ll be back. That’s a promise. But I don’t know when. Time doesn’t run smoothly, does it?”
“T’ain’t nuffing smooth, never.”
“I dreams o’ tigers.”
“And me of ice.”
“I shall dream about all of it,” Nathan sighed. “I believe Yaark is the greatest danger. We haven’t discovered his real powers yet. And Clebbster, the Hazlett father. We haven’t met him at all. But he must be terrible, with sons like the twins. What is still out there to discover?”
“More danger.”
“More excitement.”
Alice ordered a feast. Everyone chose a favourite meal, and each one was served at the long table. Hermes sat on the table in the middle with a platter of grass, mashed parsnip, cabbage and wheat. He declared that he had never eaten better. Mouse kept her distance, suckling her kittens beneath the table, while being secretly fed with anything and everything by Sam.
Nathan looked at Hermes. “I could take one of the kittens home with me,” he said softly, “if you help me look after it.”
This was a slight shock for Hermes, who nearly choked on a cabbage stalk, and had to hiccup. “I am not,” he said regretfully, “what you might call a natural mother, my lord. I fear I might fail in such a task. I am a warrior, and a messenger of Clarr.”
“Which kitten?” asked Peter.
“The white one,” after a pause. “It would look more like a baby goose.”
“A Gosling, my lord.”
‘Yes, indeed. “Nathan swallowed the mouthful of apple pie and custard and smiled at Hermes. “And, Hermes, you would have the honour of giving it a name.”
“In that case, my lord,” Hermes ruffled his feathers and stuck out his breast, “I shall swear to do my best, my lord, and since my best is, without doubt, better than most, then this gosling should thrive, and I will undertake to be both mother and father.”
Hiding the grin, Nathan said, “Think of a name and tell me tomorrow. He looked over at Sam. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“’Course I do,” admitted Sam. “But they’ve been weaned and poor Mouse, she can’t look after them forever. At least this one will go to a better home. Do they have special food in your time, Nat?”
He thought a moment. “Absolutely yes.”
Sam muttered, “I called the white one Beauty, and she’s a she.”
“As the servant of the Lord of Clarr,” Hermes declared, “I shall think of a more suitable title.”
“Humph,” said Sam to his cup.
It was in bed that night when Nathan brought out his knife. Hermes was outside in the corridor, guarding the bedchamber, and Nathan was alone with the shadows. He had slipped the Knife of Clarr beneath the pillow, but now he brought it out and held it up, squinting into the brilliant light that flooded out.
“If it’s true,” he said carefully, “that John Ten-Toes has a father who’s looking for him, please help them find each other. I want to come back and help, but I want you to help first.” For a moment, Nathan wondered if he had failed to make himself clear, since the knife’s brilliance appeared to fade a little, as though in doubt. So he held up the knife again. “We don’t know what the father is called and we don’t know where he is. But he’s here. Not in Lashtang. Unless Brewster was lying and there’s no father at all.”
The light glimmered with a copper tone that Nathan had not seen before. He was accustomed to a silver and golden dazzle, but this time the glitter was hesitant. Nathan once again ran his fingers over the hilt, tracing the intricate pattern, the two figures with their budding wing feathers, and the dragon serpent between. He had seen Wagster transformed in serpent form, but he could not see why such a thing should be represented on a knife of power and service, kindness and intelligence.
Shaking his head again, he pushed the knife back beneath his pillow, lay down and closed his eyes.
He woke to the sound of pelting rain outside, groaned, rolled over, and waking slowly. Then with a sudden burst of happiness he sat up and smiled at the rain, remembering that this was the day he was going back to Granny, Poppy and his own home. He would arrive with a talking goose and a very small fluffy white kitten which would no doubt be known as a gosling, and would hopefully not try to eat Ferdinand. He would tell his grandmother that he might, just perhaps, have miraculously released his mother and father from the ice, and he would undoubtedly begin to learn more and more about Lashtang, Clarr, and himself.
There was a great deal to discover, but since Granny Octobr was some sort of royalty in Lashtang, she would certainly be the one to tell him everything he wanted to know. Then Hermes would take him back. He would try and take Alice, Alfie, John, Peter and Sam with him, but they might be too busy looking for John’s father. And there was still a lot to learn about medieval London too.
The goodbyes were warm, loving, and difficult. Nathan almost decided to stay another day, but He looked at the rain, shook his head, called Hermes, and insisted that he had to leave. Climbing on the goose’s back, he smiled deeply, sighed with contentment, and put his arms around the soft feathered neck. The white kitten was in one of his pockets, already asleep.
“Alright,” whispered Nathan. “Let’s go.”
Within a heartbeat he found himself falling onto Granny Octobr’s kitchen floor and was sitting in self-raising flour which had blown from the table.
Granny looked up and over her glasses. “About time,” she said. “I’m making raspberry crumble for dinner.”
THE END FOR NOW…
So what will Granny tell Nathan about their ancestry? Did his parents escape the Ice? And what did happen to the Baron and his brother?
So many questions still to be answered, and so many adventures still to be had. Find out what happens next in ‘Snakes & Ladders’
Afterword
I hope you enjoyed reading this instalment of Nathan’s adventures. I would love to hear your thoughts on anything to do with Nathan and his friends.
You can contact me through either the Bannister’s Muster website at https://bannistersmuster.com. or the Bannister’s Muster facebook page.
If you could leave a review on Amazon, that would be wonderful and so very helpful.
See you soon in the next instalment…
Also by Barbara Gaskell Denvil
/> Now here is the link for your free short story, ‘The Three Culprits’
Bannister’s Muster
Book One: Snap
Book Two: Snakes & Ladders
Book 3: Blind Man’s Buff
Book 4: Dominoes
Book 5: Leapfrog
Book 6: Hide & Seek
Also available in Audio
and Coming Soon in Spanish edition.
Snap Page 29