The Snowy Tower (5 page)

He paused, staring down into the bowels of the earth. At last, Captain Malish turned and made his way quickly back to the palace and his bed.

The figure in the shadows followed him all the way back to the palace, then melted away in the darkness, heading for the White Horse Inn to make her report to her boss.

The next day the children rose early, before the sun had risen. They had camped in a copse of trees by the side of the road, wrapped in warm blankets. To save time, they breakfasted in the saddle – cold egg and bacon pie, with water from their water bottles.

No-one talked – they were still too sleepy, and very stiff from being in the saddle again. Ethan spent the first half hour of the ride thinking about the journey ahead of them and the dangers they might face.

‘I’m a bit worried about Sniffer,’ commented Ethan at last. ‘He has an uncanny ability to find us, even when we think he must have long since lost the trail. He is like something out of one of those nightmares you have, where you just keep running, but no matter where you hide, the troll finds you.’

‘Yes, but Sniffer isn’t a troll,’ Saxon replied. ‘He’s a human and doesn’t have any magical powers.’

‘The powers he does have, though, are frightening enough.’ Lily shuddered. ‘He really gives me the heebies.’

Roana shivered in agreement, glancing over her shoulder to check that the trail behind them was still empty.

‘Well, we need a plan,’ Ethan continued. ‘If he does track us, or ambush us again, we need to be prepared. The most important thing is to get Princess Roana and the gems away safely. Saxon, that will be your job. Lily and I might be able to distract him with our bows and arrows, or some other way. But Roana, you need to forget about us and just run for it, whichever way you can.’

‘No, I could not just leave you,’ Roana argued. ‘If we all stood together, working as a team, we could fight him off.’

‘Roana, it’s too important,’ Ethan reiterated. ‘The other times we were lucky, or we had other people to help us. This time it’s just us, and somehow I don’t think Sniffer will come alone. He will probably have heaps of soldiers with him. Look, he may never find us, but if he does, it is vital that at least you get away with the gems. You and Saxon could find the rebels who are hiding in the forests and ask them to help you. Promise me you’ll run away as fast as you can?’

Roana shook her head mutinously. Saxon smiled at her princess pout, which they so rarely saw on Roana’s face anymore.

‘Why doesn’t Lily go with Roana, so both the girls are safe?’ Saxon suggested. ‘And I can stay with you and fight off the Sedahs.’

‘I want Lily to be safe, but Roana would have a better chance with you to help protect her,’ Ethan replied obstinately.

‘I agree with Ethan,’ Lily stated. ‘We have come too far to risk the Sedahs getting the gems back now.’

Aisha whined, distressed by the air of tension. She ran back and forth between the different horses, looking up at the children with pleading eyes.

‘Oh, all right then. I promise I will run away like a yellow-livered coward at the first sign of trouble,’ Roana said reluctantly.

‘Not like a coward, like a precious royal princess.’ Ethan grinned, relieved that she had finally surrendered.

‘And I will gallop after you, like a trusty knight in shining armour to protect you, my beloved princess.’ Saxon bowed gallantly with a foppish twirling of his hand.

‘Trusty knight in rags, more like it,’ retorted Roana, laughing at Saxon’s caricature.

Lily and Ethan laughed as well, glad that the tension had dissolved.

‘So if Sniffer might be on our trail, do we take the most direct road north, or do we try to be stealthy – travel by night, take an indirect route, double back and so on?’ asked Lily.

‘We should take the direct road,’ insisted Roana. ‘Caspar is to be taken soon, so we have little time to waste.’

‘Stealthy would be wisest, but I tend to agree with Roana,’ Saxon said. ‘Of course, we need to be careful as we approach the tower, to have the benefit of surprise, but the sooner we get to the north the better.’

‘I agree,’ Ethan added. ‘Travelling by night would slow us down enormously, and we simply don’t have time to hide our tracks.’

‘Good, we all agree then,’ Lily summarised. ‘Hopefully we completely lost Sniffer on the moors west of Tira, and we won’t need to worry about him for a while.’

Two white-bobbed rabbits, startled by their passing, ran across the track in front of them. Aisha immediately gave chase, barking and racing, pretending not to hear Lily’s call to stop.

Three hours to the south, Sniffer was galloping on one of King Radnor’s prized grey geldings, using a short whip. He was followed by a troop of ten mounted soldiers and a pack of spare horses. Sniffer intended to swap horses regularly so he could gain on his quarry. He had sent out scouts the night before to interrogate local villagers and farmers to gain clues to the direction the children were travelling.

Threats, blows and enticements had been offered to peasants in a ten-kilometre radius of the city. A stocky farmer had finally succumbed and sulkily muttered that he had seen four children and a dog, riding on the road that led north towards Trowbridge.

Sniffer had organised supplies, horses and soldiers to be readied while he waited for the intelligence reports. Once he knew the direction the children were travelling, he had wanted to set out at once. However, the Sedah groom had convinced him to wait until dawn, to minimise risk of injury to the horses. Sniffer had hardly slept all night and had woken the soldiers long before dawn.

The guards on the city gates had to open up early to let the soldiers through. Sniffer had allowed the horses to walk while it was still dark, but as soon as it was half light they were galloping at full pace, laden with armoured soldiers and weapons.

Later that morning, Sniffer spied a scuff in the mud on the bank to the right of the track. He leapt from his horse and investigated. As he had thought, the scuff mark was caused by a horse’s hoof sliding in the soft mud. The hoof prints led off the track to a small camp site. He found five flattened spaces in the grass and the blackened ash of a recent camp fire. He found plaited wisps of grass, matted with brown and black horse hair, and he found greenybrown piles of horse dung. He estimated that the freshest dung was only two or three hours old.

In the roadway, the soldiers and horses were having a well-deserved rest – the horses lipping the
grass, the men sipping from water bottles and stretching their legs. The groom was taking small groups of horses down to the nearby stream to drink.

‘On your horses, men. We continue north,’ barked Sniffer.

The groom cursed inwardly, worried for the horses in his care. ‘But Sniffer, the horses need to –’

‘I said we’re going, now,’ interrupted Sniffer, clambering up into his saddle. Every muscle ached. Sniffer was not a horseman, but he was determined to find Princess Roana and those pesky children this time. The other soldiers groaned but obeyed sullenly.

Back in Tira, over breakfast, Captain Malish heard that Sniffer had set off before dawn with a troop of soldiers, on the trail of some children and a dog seen crossing the eastern bridge. He swore loudly. His ears were still ringing from the invective that had been shouted at him by Governor Lazlac yesterday afternoon. Apparently those children had not died at sea after all but were causing more trouble.

Captain Malish thought of a plan that would earn him a lot of points from Governor Lazlac. He sent orders for Lord Mortimer to be fetched from his cell and brought to the stables at once. He would take Lord Mortimer with him to identify the princess. He wanted to be sure that there were no mistakes this time.

So for the second time that day, a troop of heavily armed, mounted Sedah soldiers clattered over the eastern bridge, and took the northern road. Captain Malish travelled more slowly than Sniffer, pausing frequently to check they were taking the right path. In their midst rode an eager, foppish Tiregian lord, dressed in ragged finery, his hair neatly tied back in a ponytail with a crimson ribbon.

At last
, Lord Mortimer thought, his heart singing in time to the rhythm of the horses’ hooves.
At last, we will find that spoilt princess and my plans will finally come to fruition. At last I can marry the brat, claim the throne of Tiregian and rule as king. King of Tiregian. Then Princess Roana can be quietly locked away in a remote corner of the palace, out of trouble and out of sight. King, I will be king.

To the north, the children were riding deep in a forest. It reminded Saxon, Lily and Ethan of the forest of Kenley, making them homesick. When they came to a merry, babbling brook meandering through the trees, they decided to stop and water the horses, and let them crop the sweet spring grass.

When the packs were taken from Mischief’s back, she rolled over and over on her back, scratching away at the itchy patches, her four legs waving in the air.

‘Isn’t she gorgeous,’ laughed Lily.

‘What’s gorgeous is what Mischief has been carrying,’ contradicted Saxon. ‘Cookie’s supplies! I’m starving!’

The children were hungry and tired and hot. After they had unsaddled the horses, watered them and rubbed them down, they were relieved to take off their own sweaty boots and paddle their feet in the stream, splashing their faces and hands. Soon they just could not resist stripping down to their underwear and swimming in the icy water.

Feeling invigorated and refreshed, they rubbed themselves dry on the blankets and dressed. Saxon built a fire of twigs to boil a pot of tea. Roana and Lily rummaged through the packs and found a parcel of food prepared by Cookie. There were sandwiches with roast beef and mustard, and boiled eggs in their shells. These were followed by moist apricot cake, topped with crunchy brown sugar, with a mug of tea.

They all sat on the stream bank, resting their backs against a large rock. Ethan threw pebbles into the stream. Charcoal stalked through the long grass, hunting shadows and crickets, enjoying the freedom to move after the confinement of her wicker basket. Aisha flopped in the shade, exhausted, one paw hiding her eyes.

‘Mmmm,’ sighed Roana. ‘That was delicious. We should enjoy Cookie’s fresh food while it lasts. I
suppose it won’t be long until we’re down to the dry biscuits.’

‘The part I hate is when we run out of fresh milk and have to drink black tea,’ moaned Lily.

‘We might be able to buy supplies at Trowbridge and Bryn,’ Saxon commented. ‘We still have plenty of gold crescents left, don’t we, Roana?’

‘Yes – a whole pouch thanks to Fox,’ agreed Roana, feeling the heavy leather pouch tucked on a thong inside her shirt.

‘I suppose we should get up, saddle the horses and be on our way,’ suggested Ethan half-heartedly.

‘Oh, just five minutes more,’ begged Lily. ‘My legs feel so stiff – I don’t think I can move.’

It was another fifteen minutes before they finally clambered slowly to their feet, groaning and moaning. The horses were tacked up, the packs buckled on. They splashed their faces with water once more, filled their bottles and extinguished the fire. Charcoal was scooped up and popped back inside her carry basket, meowing loudly.

Aisha sat watching the preparations, her left ear turned inside out to show her displeasure. She was looking forward to a lovely afternoon nap. When Saxon and Caramel led the procession back onto the path, Aisha stayed behind pointedly, her back
turned. Only when Lily whistled did she reluctantly follow.

The horses too were slow, no longer pawing the ground in anticipation, but plodding along steadily.

To the south, Sniffer was still cantering. He had swapped horses, and whipped the poor creature unmercifully. The grey’s sides were slick with sweat and blood. Sniffer was well in front, with the other soldiers trailing quite some distance behind him. They were fed up with this chase. How important could it be to catch a small gang of children, even if one was a former princess?

Sniffer smelt a faint whiff of wood smoke wafting down the forest trail, and he urged his mount on faster. On the left was a small clearing beside a stream. Sniffer hauled on the reins, cutting the horse’s lip as he dragged it to a halt. He did not bother to dismount.

The ashes from the camp fire were still gently smoking, and the pile of horse dung on the roadway was fresh olive green. The quarry must be only half an hour ahead. Sniffer looked back to the soldiers trotting behind him. He gestured urgently to them,
waving his arm, then whipped his poor horse once more.

Sniffer galloped on and on. His horse screamed for every breath; its sides heaved and red foam slobbered from its mouth.

Saxon, Roana, Lily and Ethan rode past a small woodsman’s cottage, set back from the forest path. As they passed they noticed the stack of firewood leaning against the south wall, red geraniums by the door, a tilled patch of stunted vegetables, and a dilapidated barn to the rear.

They were travelling now at a steady jogging trot, the riders rising up and down in rhythm with the gait.

‘My knees ache,’ complained Roana grumpily. ‘Can we not walk some more?’

‘We should keep moving. The horses can keep this speed up for a long time yet,’ argued Ethan.

‘The horses might, but I cannot,’ retorted Roana. ‘I feel like my body is going to snap in two.’

Reluctantly Ethan slowed Toffee back into a walk. Roana stretched thankfully, easing her cramping muscles and aching joints. Everyone was
secretly grateful. They were all feeling the strain of the long hours in the saddle.

They kept riding for a couple of kilometres then, as dusk fell, they found a camp site in a clearing off the track. Charcoal was let out of her basket to hunt down by the stream. Everyone unsaddled their horses, rubbed them down and checked their hooves for stones or bruising. The bridles were swapped for leather halters and the horses were allowed to graze freely along the stream bank. At night they would be tethered with long lead ropes, so that they would not wander too far away.

Ethan built a small camp fire, building a ring of rocks to hold the coals and snapping twigs and branches into kindling to feed the flame. Lily fetched a pot of water from the stream to boil for tea. Roana and Saxon were sitting under the trees, fossicking in the packs for provisions to make an evening meal. Aisha lay stretched out by the fire with her eyes closed. Lily had to step over her to place the pot in the heat of the coals.

‘Poor Aisha,’ Lily murmured soothingly. ‘It’s been a long, hard run today, hasn’t it, girl?’

Aisha lifted her eyebrows quizzically, then closed her eyes again and snuggled even closer to the fire. Suddenly she sat bolt upright, her ears cocked and
her hackles raised, staring down the forest track in the direction they had come. She growled long and low, then barked loudly in warning. Lily and Ethan stopped what they were doing and watched Aisha, then gazed apprehensively down the road. Ethan picked up his bow and quiver, and carefully nocked an arrow.

Then they heard it, the sound of many hoofbeats thundering towards them.

‘Roana, go,’ hissed Ethan urgently. ‘Saxon, get Roana out of here.’

Roana grabbed up her cloak, the precious cloak with the sacred gems sewn into the hem, and raced for Moonbeam. She leapt bareback onto her loyal horse, twisting her hands in the mane and, using her knees and her voice, urging her into a gallop out of the clearing and into the wild wood.

Saxon paused a moment, torn by fear for his friends, then remembered his promise to save Roana before anything else. He ran to Caramel, vaulted on her bare back, and followed Roana. In a moment they were both gone. Lily raced to the packs to get her own bow and arrows.

Aisha was in the roadway, barking ferociously.

A moment later, Sniffer burst into the camp site, followed by his group of ten mounted, armoured
soldiers. Nutmeg reared, screaming in confusion at the invasion. As a smuggler’s pony, Mischief had been trained for sudden unwelcome attacks, and she broke into a gallop, racing for the safety of the trees. Nutmeg and Toffee followed her, all three galloping in the same direction that Moonbeam and Caramel had taken.

Charcoal, too, skittered into the long grass to hide.

Lily had tried to run for the horses, calling for Nutmeg, but Nutmeg was too frightened to come to her call. Realising the horses were gone, she turned back to help Ethan. She ran to his side and nocked an arrow, willing her hands not to tremble. Lily and Ethan could both hear their hearts thumping, their blood pounding, their muscles twitching as adrenalin kicked through their systems.

Sniffer dragged cruelly on the reins, hauling his horse abruptly to a stop. The other horses skidded to a halt.

Sniffer’s eyes skimmed the two children with the large dog at their side. There was the girl with long, golden curls cascading down her back – her face pale and set – her arrow aimed for his heart. The boy was slightly taller, with honey brown hair and a slim streak of white at his temple, a murderous
gleam in his chocolate eyes and a crooked left eyebrow. Sniffer had seen the unmounted horses galloping from the glade. So where were the others?

‘Who are you and what do you want?’ asked Ethan boldly, squinting down the aim of his drawn arrow. Ethan quickly summed up his opponents. The soldiers were protected by body armour and helmets, but their arms and legs were uncovered, allowing them to move more easily. He would need to aim his arrows for the soldiers’ arms and legs.

‘Don’t harm them … yet,’ reminded Sniffer, as several of his men pulled out daggers and cutlasses. ‘I think you know what we want,’ he directed to Ethan, ‘so why don’t you and the young princess put down your bows before one of you gets hurt.’

Ethan’s and Lily’s minds whirred at his words. Sniffer obviously thought Lily was Princess Roana.

‘Don’t come nearer,’ Ethan warned, ‘or we’ll fire. Just take your men away and let us go peacefully.’

‘I don’t think so.’ Sniffer laughed. ‘Governor Lazlac is very keen to see you, and so is Lord Mortma. He is getting very impatient to see his bride, so you see, you might as well put down your weapons and come back to Tira with us.’

‘No, we will not,’ Lily snapped. Aisha snarled, revealing sharp, white teeth, as vicious as a wolf’s.

‘Get the children,’ ordered Sniffer. ‘And someone kill that dog.’

The soldiers dismounted, a trifle gingerly after the long ride, then rushed towards Lily, Ethan and Aisha. Aisha lunged forward, her teeth snapping and snarling, fearless of the flashing daggers and cruelly curved cutlasses.

‘Fire – aim for the arms and legs,’ whispered Ethan, and the two of them set off a volley of arrows. At this range they could not fail to miss, even in the growing dusk. Ethan was particularly fast at reloading and was able to fire several arrows before the soldiers reached them. Even so, it was ten fully grown Sedah soldiers, fit and battle hardened, against two children and a ferocious dog, who would gladly give her life to save her family.

It was all over in a few minutes. Lily was dragged, screeching, kicking, biting, by three soldiers, her bow snapped and useless. Ethan shot a soldier in the forearm just as he was preparing to slash at Aisha. Aisha twisted and jumped, snapping and shaking. The dagger sliced her rear flank, drawing a fountain of blood. Ethan saw Aisha injured and Lily dragged off.

‘Aisha, find Saxon,’ he bellowed. Aisha stared at him with plaintive, begging eyes. She would not leave Ethan and Lily in danger. She grabbed a soldier by the leg, growling and tearing.

‘Aisha, GO!’ roared Ethan. Aisha dropped the leg obediently and stared in confusion at Ethan. ‘I said GO!’

Tail between her legs, blood trickling from shoulder and flank, Aisha slowly, sadly, slunk off into the darkness of the forest, following the smell of Nutmeg and Caramel. Every instinct made her want to stay and protect Lily and Ethan, yet she was too well trained to disobey a direct order. Three soldiers seized Ethan, one cuffing him sharply on the side of his head, knocking him to the ground, his bow and arrows dropped and forgotten.

‘Don’t hurt him,’ Lily shouted, struggling to get to her brother. Another soldier dragged Ethan up and pushed him roughly, blood pouring from his nose.

‘Stop,’ commanded Sniffer. ‘I said not to harm them.’

‘We weren’t going to break anything,’ whined the soldier who had hit Ethan. ‘Just teach the brat some manners!’

‘Bring the boy here,’ ordered Sniffer. Ethan staggered, his head aching, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth.

The soldiers lifted him by the arms and dragged him to Sniffer, where they threw him to the ground. Ethan groaned in pain.

Sniffer assessed the situation. Half his men were wounded, arrows sticking out of their limbs like spikes from a hedgehog. In the growing darkness, the clearing was littered with packs, saddles, bridles, blankets, Charcoal’s basket and the kicked-over cooking pot.