The Snowy Tower (16 page)

Wilf grunted. ‘It would have been better if you aimed for his heart.’

Ethan twisted to the rear. Their pursuer was obviously weakened but still determined to give chase. He too slipped on the ice, yet never slowed down. The children had the disadvantage of pushing two laden toboggans, while Sniffer, although injured, was now unencumbered. He gained steadily, the gap closing – one hundred metres, ninety, eighty, seventy, sixty, fifty metres.

‘Run harder,’ panted Wilf. ‘Not far now.’

A group of four tribesmen, including Wilf’s father, Jared, were waiting by the two ice boats,
daggers drawn and faces grim. Large white sails flapped crisply in the winter breeze. The tribesmen ran forward to help. The gap narrowed. Forty, thirty, twenty metres.

Lily and Roana were panting strongly, their legs quivering with exertion and their mouths dry as dust. Aisha ran at Lily’s heels, then stopped and turned to face Sniffer. She growled a warning, then launched back towards their pursuer, hackles raised and teeth bared. Jonte followed, bounding across the ice. Sniffer stumbled then stopped, reluctant to race straight into the snarling pair of dogs.

The children reached the tribesmen safely, panting with relief, letting the toboggans go. Three of the tribesmen set off towards Sniffer, their daggers unsheathed, leaving Jared to help the children.

Sniffer paused, then turned and ran. The tribesmen let him go, more focused on helping the children escape than catching the strange Sedah pursuer. Lily and Wilf whistled sharply, calling Aisha and Jonte to join their families once more. The toboggans were pushed over to the ice boats tethered to a bush on the lake’s edge.

‘Well done, southerners,’ said Jared gravely. ‘Well done, Wilf. I’m proud of you. We did not expect you
for quite some time, and we certainly were not sure that you would succeed in your quest.’

Wilf smiled proudly, hiding his embarrassment by fussing over a pack.

Jared reached down and tenderly lifted the unconscious prince onto the deck. All the gear was swiftly loaded onto one of the ice boats, after the five children. The two big dogs were ungracefully hoisted on deck.

The ice boats were quite compact, so it was squashy having everyone on board. Jared gave him last-minute instructions on steering and navigating the boat. Then the tribesmen pulled the ice boat out away from the bank, towards the centre of the frozen lake, and pointed the bow downwind.

The white sails filled with air, and the ice boat leapt forward, its bone keels skating across the ice.

The five children waved madly back at the tribesmen left behind, calling out words of thanks and farewell. The four tribesmen swung themselves up onto the remaining ice boat and followed behind for a while, before steering to the west to return to the main tribal camp.

The ice boat skimmed across the frozen surface of the lake, carried by a fair breeze. Wilf showed them how to steer the boat and how to tack, and gave them directions on how to reach Lightning
Crevasse. It was very similar to steering a sailing dinghy, so the children took it in shifts of about an hour at a time, to steer and crew and rest. Lily and Roana fussed over Prince Caspar, who had fallen into a semi-conscious state, quivering and moaning.

‘He looks as though he is in shock,’ Lily decided. ‘We need to keep him warm, and try to give him lots of fluid.’

The tribesmen had brought flasks of water and supplies of dried food – smoked strips of reindeer meat, flat bread, nuts and desiccated cheese. Roana lay beside her brother, forcing sips of water between his lips and trying to keep him warm. Despite the furs, he was shivering uncontrollably.

As the hours passed, Prince Caspar started to thrash about and shout loudly.

‘I don’t have any herbs or medicines I can give him,’ worried Lily. ‘Everything is in the packs on the horses. When we get to Lightning Crevasse I can give him some chamomile tea to help him sleep.’

Roana tried to soothe him with her voice, telling him stories about their mother and the palace at Tira. She could not talk to him about their father yet. Roana’s voice seemed to calm the prince and he fell into a troubled sleep, occasionally thrashing with nightmares.

The other children talked in low voices, reliving their adventures, their escape and the amazing tenacity of Sniffer. When it grew dark, they decided to drop the sails in the centre of the lake and sleep until morning. It was a bad night’s sleep, with Caspar tossing and crying out, and the children conscious of the great snowy darkness around them. In the middle of the night everyone was woken by a crash.

‘Caspar, Caspar,’ screamed Roana. ‘Where are you?’

Caspar had woken and crawled off the deck and onto the ice, knocking over a pile of packs, then falling and sprawling on the ice. He struggled to his feet and tried to run, legs slipping and sliding under him. He fell again, knocking all the breath from his body. Roana leapt off the boat after him and hurried to his side.

‘It is all right, Caspar,’ she crooned. ‘You are safe now. You are with me, Roana, your sister.’

Caspar looked at her without recognition, his eyes wide with terror.

‘Where priests?’ he mumbled, almost incoherently. ‘Going Sedah?’

‘No, we are not going to Sedah,’ she soothed. ‘We are taking you home to Mama, to Tira.’

Caspar shook his head.

‘No,’ he replied emphatically. ‘Mama gone. Dadda gone. Roana gone.’

‘Mama’s not gone, Caspar,’ Roana murmured. ‘I came for you. We are going home now and everything is going to be all right.’

Saxon and Ethan helped half carry, half drag the limp prince back to the ice boat and settle him in his pile of furs. Aisha licked the prince gently on his face. He smiled, closed his eyes and settled back to sleep.

At dawn, the sails were hoisted once more, and the ice boat kept sailing southwards.

Caspar woke when the boat began to move. He looked about him with disbelief. ‘Medicine?’ he croaked.

‘No medicine, darling,’ replied Roana gently. ‘Have some water and some breakfast. It will make you feel better.’

‘Just a little at a time,’ Lily warned. ‘He has not eaten for a while, and we don’t want him to be sick.’

Caspar ate a little and had a few sips of water at regular intervals throughout the day. Gradually he brightened and was soon propped up, gazing about him and feeling the chilly wind on his face, but saying little. Aisha lay close by his side, to comfort
him with her warm presence. Occasionally she licked him on the hand, or nudged him with her nose, as if he was a weak puppy who needed help to find his paws.

Late in the afternoon, Wilf pointed ahead to the south. The lake narrowed and reached its southerly shore. A merrily blazing fire and two white domed tents showed them where the tribesfolk were camping. A makeshift yard held the familiar forms of Nutmeg, Caramel, Toffee, Moonbeam and Mischief.

Lily slumped with relief.

‘We made it,’ she cried. The five children whooped and laughed with joy. Aisha and Jonte barked loudly. Caspar sat up, gazing at the camp in bemusement. He saw nothing about the strange white tents to elicit such festivity, but his fuggy brain was struggling to make sense of everything at the moment.

Two mountain tribesmen ran down to the shore to greet them and help them stow the ice boat and gear. In a few minutes they were all sitting on fur rugs beside the fireplace, eating steaming bowls of reindeer stew and explaining their adventures to the delighted tribesfolk. Even Caspar ate a bowl of stew with the most animation he had shown since his rescue.

The two dogs chewed on the sinewy bones, crunching and munching happily.

That night they all crawled into the second felt dome to sleep, ready to set off on their ride south first thing in the morning. Lily made chamomile tea for Prince Caspar to help him have a deep and healing sleep.

‘My medicine?’ asked Caspar eagerly when Lily brought him the cup of warm liquid.

‘This is not the same medicine that the priests gave you,’ explained Lily. ‘This is a good medicine to help you sleep and get better.’

Caspar looked disappointed but sipped the tea experimentally, then drank it down.

‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘It tastes better than the medicine the priests gave me.’

Lily laughed. ‘It’s also better for you than whatever they made you drink.’ Roana listened eagerly to this small conversation, taking it as a sign that the drug was wearing off and that Caspar was improving.

Caspar turned shyly to Roana. ‘Are you really my sister? You look a little bit like Roana, but not much, and you sound like her, but different somehow …’

‘Yes,’ Roana replied. ‘I will prove it to you.’ Roana carefully pulled out the heart-shaped amethyst locket she wore around her neck.

‘Mama’s locket,’ Caspar sighed. Roana opened the catch to show Caspar the blonde and black locks of hair plaited together inside.

Caspar examined Roana’s short hair, her mountain tribe clothes and tanned face. ‘You have changed,’ he said gravely.

Roana gave him a fierce hug. ‘We have all changed, but life is like that.’

‘I am glad you came,’ Caspar decided.

‘How could I not?’ laughed Roana, ruffling up his hair. ‘You are a pest, but you are still my brother.’

Caspar smiled and settled down to sleep, Aisha curled up beside him.

In the morning, everyone rose before dawn to saddle the horses, fill the water bottles and sling the packs behind the saddles. Farewells and thankyous were exchanged with handshakes and hugs. The hardest part was to say goodbye to Wilf and Jonte, who had helped them beyond measure.

‘We will never forget you,’ Roana said. ‘I owe you more than I can ever say. Thank you. Thank you.’

Wilf blushed and shuffled, stroking Jonte’s head. ‘Any time,’ he grinned. ‘Ride safely, and don’t let Sniffer catch you. Any time you want another game of stickball, let me know.’

‘Stickball is the best,’ Ethan agreed.

‘Look at Aisha,’ Lily cried. Aisha and Jonte were playing down by the lakeside as though they knew it was their last game together. They darted and feinted, tumbled and rumbled, chased and raced, kicking up snow with their paws.

Ethan and Saxon helped Prince Caspar clamber up onto Mischief’s saddle, then Lily, Ethan, Saxon and Roana mounted their horses, waved goodbye and trotted down the path that led out of the valley and south to Bryn. Lily whistled for Aisha. Aisha paused in her play but did not follow, instead racing with Jonte along the lakeside, neck by neck, chasing a bird that was silly enough to swoop in front of them. Lily whistled again, then called impatiently, ‘Aisha, come.’

Aisha’s ears were flying as she raced. Jonte nuzzled her shoulder. Wilf added his voice to the summons, calling Jonte firmly, but was ignored as well.

‘Let’s just ride on,’ Ethan suggested. ‘She will follow in a moment.’

The five horses jogged on, while Aisha stayed behind and played. As they reached the bend in the path, which would leave the frozen lake behind, Lily whistled one last time. Aisha looked up and sighed, flipping her ear inside out. She nuzzled
Jonte, licking him on the face, then turned and raced after the horses, as graceful as a deer.

The journey to Bryn took only two days, as the horses were fresh, the riders were keen, and the snow was lighter at the southern end of the valley. At this time of year in the far north, the days were long and the nights a few short hours of pale darkness. The children rose before dawn, eating breakfast in the saddle – stale flat bread and leathery water from the flasks. They rode all day, cantering, trotting, jogging, walking, then doing it all again. The children tried to change position in the saddle to ease their stiff and cramped muscles. At night, they rubbed down the horses and rolled themselves in blankets by a tiny fire, too tired to eat. It was an arduous journey.

The back of Lily’s neck prickled with the sensation that they were being followed. Sniffer was injured but still mobile, and he was out there, somewhere behind them to the north. They all knew he had an uncanny knack of finding them, or even guessing where they were going, and getting there first. They had not beaten Sniffer yet – far from it. Lily kicked her heels into Nutmeg’s sides, encouraging her back into a canter. The other horses followed enthusiastically.

Prince Caspar was still weak and disorientated but jogged in Mischief’s saddle without complaining.

At last they rounded a bend and could see the distant towers of Bryn, nestled in its green valley. Ethan shouted for joy, and urged Toffee into a faster canter.

‘We’re nearly there,’ Ethan cried. ‘Nearly back to civilisation.’

They clattered onto the cobbled roads of Bryn, exhausted but excited to reach another milestone on their journey. It was nearly dark, but instead of searching for an inn and a hearty, hot meal, the five children rode straight to the docks.

There they found only one bargeman stowing his gear. The others had long since headed home.

‘Ahoy there, captain,’ called Saxon. ‘We need a barge to take us south to Tira.’

‘Come back in the morning,’ the bargeman returned, packing up his kit. ‘We’ll talk business then. I have an important meeting at The Black Bull.’

‘We need to leave tonight,’ Saxon urged. He jingled Roana’s money pouch enticingly. ‘We can pay you well.’

The bargeman looked around at the five bedraggled children, the five sweaty horses, the
forlorn dog and the black and white cat prowling curiously around the dock.

‘Sorry, kids,’ the bargeman replied, climbing off the barge. ‘Why don’t you go home to your mam? Are you running away? Don’t do it – whatever your mam’s said or done, the best place to be is at home.’

‘Our mam’s in Tira,’ Lily said softly. ‘We are running home, not running away.’

Prince Caspar sniffed loudly, blinking away tears of complete exhaustion. The bargeman’s face softened in sympathy.

‘Please help us,’ Ethan added. ‘I know we look like ragamuffins, but we have run into trouble with the Sedahs and just need to get back to Tira as soon as possible. We can pay you in gold for your trouble.’

The bargeman took a deep breath and dropped his kit back on the deck.

‘All right,’ he sighed. ‘We’ll leave tonight. Do you have any food?’

The children shook their heads.

‘Are you planning on taking those beasts of yours, or shall we sell them to the innkeeper?’

‘The horses come too,’ replied Lily firmly.

‘Okay, you’ll need to load the horses in the middle of the barge to keep the weight balanced,’
the bargeman ordered. ‘Stow your gear for’ard, and we can organise some food.’

Saxon went with the bargeman to the inn to organise and pay for supplies for all the humans and animals for the two-day trip. Each horse had to be carefully coaxed onto the rocking deck. Lily whispered and snickered soothingly in each animal’s ear as she led them down the gangplank, while Ethan cajoled and encouraged from behind. Mischief stepped on daintily, and Moonbeam snorted and cavorted in fear, her ears flat against her skull. The process took ages, but at last all five horses were safely tethered in the centre of the deck.

When that was done, the bargeman cast off and poled the barge out into the fast current in the middle of the river. The children huddled around a bucket of hot coals on the foredeck. As well as the mash and hay for the horses, Saxon had bought a cauldron of hot chicken and vegetable soup, loaves of fresh bread, butter, fruit and cheese, as well as meat scraps for Aisha and Charcoal.

They drank the soup from their mugs, using spoons to scoop up the hearty chunks of meat and vegetables. They were all too tired to talk and soon wrapped themselves in their blankets and fell asleep to the gentle motion of the River Bryn. Caspar fell
asleep with Charcoal curled in his arms, and Roana beside him.

A thousand stars sprinkled the black velvet sky. A luminous gibbous moon sailed high overhead, transforming the river into a silver trail.

It took two days and three nights to float down the river. The journey seemed incredibly easy compared to the long hard ride north. The landscape slipped by in a blur of greens, golds, scarlets and browns – meadows tall with grass, orchards dropping drifts of blossom, the village of Trowbridge, lonely farms and thick forest. It was lovely to see colour again after the stark white of the snow lands. Lily, Ethan, Saxon and Roana took it in turns with the bargeman to steer and pole the barge during the long hours of daylight. They stopped for a few hours of sleep only when it was too dark to see.

Caspar slept most of the time, speaking rarely, waking only for meals. The sunshine, rest and fresh air stimulated his appetite, so at least he was eating well again. Roana looked after him solicitously, worrying about his pallor, his quietness, and the dark black circles under his eyes. He was not the mischievous, innocent child of a few months before.