The Secret of Zanzibar (16 page)

‘The Crankens stretch into Gerander, don't they? So there's probably some kind of secret path running through the mountains.'

‘But how will I find it? I don't even have my scarf.'

‘You've worn that scarf for years,' Timmy reminded him. ‘You must know every inch of it by now. Close your eyes and picture it. Look for patterns, recurring symbols.'

Alistair took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He let his mind's eye range over the vividly coloured shapes and marks. He knew that the brown arches winding down the scarf's left-hand side were underground tunnels, and that a series of delicate green stitches marked secret paths through the trees. The blue stripe running down the centre of the scarf was the Winns, Gerander's mighty river, and above this, at the top of the scarf, was a green oval, representing the river's source. But what was that in the very top right-hand corner?

‘Don't force it.' Alistair heard Timmy the Winns' soft murmur as if in a dream. ‘Let it come.'

He pictured a cluster of white triangles. The Crankens … And dotted among them were … ‘Blue circles,' he said aloud. ‘At the very top of the scarf there are these white triangles, which I think must be the mountains, but there's this one big blue circle with a trail of smaller blue circles like bubbles leading away from it.'

‘Blue circles.' Timmy was silent for a few minutes, a frown of concentration creasing his forehead. ‘The biggest blue circle – do you think it could be a mountain lake?'

Alistair shrugged. ‘I suppose so,' he said.

Timmy gazed into the distance, at the snowy peaks capping the mountain range. ‘One summer, Z, Em and
I went trekking in the mountains with our grandparents. There was a lake. It was an extraordinary colour: the deepest blue I've ever seen. I put my hand in and it almost turned deep blue with cold.' He looked at his midnight blue fur and chuckled. ‘Not that I'd be able to tell the difference now.'

‘Do you think that lake might be the blue circle on the scarf?' Alistair asked.

Timmy raised his palms. ‘I really couldn't say.'

‘What about the other circles?' Alistair asked. ‘What do you think they are?'

Timmy shook his head. ‘I really couldn't say,' he repeated. ‘But it can't hurt to find out.'

Alistair stared at the mountains in the distance. Timmy had described a pleasant hike with his grandparents but Alistair's own experience of the Crankens was quite different. He remembered the biting cold, the terror of a blizzard, a blank landscape of treacherous crevasses. Timmy the Winns was wrong, he thought; it
could
hurt to find out. Alistair had survived the Crankens once, but he didn't know if he'd be so lucky a second time …

Alice let out a squeal of surprise as she saw a rusty orange and white mouse, in his palm a large iron key.

‘Solomon!' she cried. ‘What are you doing here?'

‘I could ask you the same question.'

‘You never told us you were coming to Cornoliana,' Alex said, his voice bewildered.

‘It's not your business where I go.' Solomon sounded cold.

Alice was struggling to make sense of Solomon's presence here. Why had he left them to make the journey alone if he was coming to Cornoliana himself anyway? And what was he doing at the palace? ‘Does … does Zanzibar know you're here?' she asked.

Solomon didn't reply – and suddenly everything was clear. She knew why she and Alex had been sent back to Cornoliana alone, why the Queen's Guards had knocked at Cook's door.

‘You're a traitor!' Alice shouted. ‘This was your plan all along, wasn't it? You knew we were on Queen Eugenia's list the first time you sent us here. We were never meant to escape from the palace then, but we did – so you sent us back again.' Her next words came out in a whisper, her throat thick with anger, betrayal. ‘I trusted you.'

‘Alice, no!' said Solomon Honker. Impatiently he thrust the key at Alex then put his hands on Alice's shoulders. ‘It's not –'

‘Oh, but it is,' a bell-like voice interrupted him.

Alice gasped in fright: ‘Sophia!'

‘That's right.' The silvery mouse stepped from the shadows behind Solomon, holding aloft the gleaming knife that Alice had seen so often in her nightmares.

‘Time to hand them over, Solomon,' Sophia said. The light, amused tone was gone now: the voice was harsh.

‘Sophia …'

The silvery mouse took a step forward.

‘It's okay,' Solomon told her. ‘You can put the knife away. I'm on your side – and I'm as keen as you are to see these brats finally get their just deserts. Could you fetch the rope I left around the bend?'

‘With pleasure.' Sophia flashed Alice a satisfied look, then walked quickly away.

Solomon twisted to face Alice and Alex, shoulders lifted in a shrug. ‘Sorry, kids,' he said loudly, ‘but it's game over. Alex, step away from the door.' But even as
Solomon said the words, his hands were moving as if turning a key in a lock.

While Alice continued to gape at him in confusion, Alex turned and, after some fumbling, Alice heard the door of the cell being wrenched open and then Tom was standing there between her and Alex.

‘Alex,' Solomon repeated, ‘
the door
…
now
!'

The three young mice stared at him uncertainly just as Sophia's voice floated down the passageway to them, sounding cross.

‘I can't find it, Solomon.'

Solomon gestured urgently over his shoulder. As understanding dawned Alice turned to her brother, but he was already moving. Quick as a flash he whipped open the door to the servants' stairs at the end of the passage and barrelled through.

‘Solomon.' Sophia's voice was closer now. ‘I can't see the rope anywhere. Are you sure you – Solomon!' She shrieked and ran towards them, knife raised, as Solomon pushed Alice and Tom through the door after Alex.

‘Go!' he urged.

As Alice slipped through the door after Tom she saw the flash of a silver blade as Sophia lunged. The door was almost closed when she felt a tight grip on her wrist and heard Solomon gasp, ‘Alice! Go to Doffy … Figleaf. Doffy Figleaf!' He released her wrist, the door slammed and Alice was running, taking the stairs two at a time, feet pounding, heart pounding, mind racing.

They were still climbing, up and up and up. Alice could hear Tom breathing heavily above her. Below her … a thump … and was that a scream? She imagined the struggle taking place: Solomon blocking the door; Sophia slashing at him with her knife. But Solomon would prevail, she was sure of it.

With the terror of the scene in the dungeon still sharp in her mind, Alice continued doggedly up the stairs behind the boys, though her lungs were heaving from the effort. They appeared to be in a tower now, the stairs a tight spiral, the dark pierced by the occasional beam of light through high slits in the walls.

The light grew stronger as Alex flung open a door to reveal the pale grey sky of dawn. Alice stepped through to find she was standing on a sloping roof of red terracotta tiles.

Beside her, Tom was on his knees, panting. Alice moved towards him, concerned, but he held up a hand.

‘I'm all right,' he managed to choke out. ‘Just been a while … since I went … for a run like that.'

When Tom was breathing normally again, Alex said, ‘We should try to put some distance between ourselves and that door.' He started up the incline of the roof on his hands and knees, then disappeared over the top. Alice and Tom clambered after him.

For the next few minutes, Alex led them across a series of tiled slopes and inclines, finally coming to a stop against
a row of chimneys that stood like a screen shielding them from the ground below.

‘Okay,' he said, dropping his pack from his shoulders and sitting down so that his back was against one of the chimneys, ‘now we can take a breather.' He opened his rucksack and peered in hopefully, then his face fell. ‘Sis, do you have any food left?'

Alice grimaced at him then stuck her hand into her pack for the apple she had been saving. ‘You have to share it,' she warned as Alex reached for it greedily.

Tom, meanwhile, was regarding them curiously. ‘That seemed like a pretty bizarre rescue,' he observed. ‘You turned up without a key and then kept getting surprised by other mice turning up, though I couldn't quite work out if they were friends or foes. And now we're on the roof. Is this part of the plan? I would've thought escaping from the palace would be a good idea. Oh, and remind me again who sent you and why?'

Alex, who had been crunching away at the apple (having forgotten apparently that he was meant to be sharing it), looked startled by this barrage of comments and questions.

‘The reason we rescued you,' he said, ‘is because we're your cousins. FIG sent us – well, not exactly. We
are
in Cornoliana on a mission for FIG, but they don't really know we're here.'

‘What's that?' Tom demanded. ‘You're my cousins?'
He frowned. ‘That's impossible. Both my parents were only children.'

‘We're more like second cousins really,' Alice explained. ‘Or is it first cousins once removed? Anyway, our mum is your father's cousin.'

‘You mean you're Emmeline's kids? Wow, so you really are cousins!' Tom looked happy to hear this, Alice was pleased to see. ‘Thanks for rescuing me. Kind of …' He glanced around nervously. ‘We are still on the palace roof. Where do we go from here?'

‘Solomon Honker told me to find Doffy Figleaf.'

‘I think I remember Dad mentioning someone from FIG called Solomon Honker, but what would he doing here at the palace with the Sourians? Is Solomon one of the good guys or the bad guys?'

It was a good question. Alice looked at her brother. ‘I still trust Solomon, don't you?'

Alex was regarding the apple core in his hand with a mixture of regret and guilt. ‘Oops,' he said. ‘It's all gone.' Then he shrugged. ‘I don't know what Solomon was doing at the palace, but he saved us from Sophia, didn't he?'

‘So who's Doffy Figleaf?' Tom asked.

Alice shook her head. ‘I don't know, but it sounded pretty important.' She touched her wrist, which was still tingling where Solomon had grasped it. To her surprise, the fur was sticky. With rising horror she looked first at her fingertips and then at her wrist.

It was coated in blood.

She swayed on her feet, felt Alex clasp her shoulders to steady her. ‘Sis, what's wrong?'

With a sick feeling she held out her wrist.

‘What's that?' said Tom, peering at the matted fur.

‘Blood.'

‘Blood?! Are you hurt?'

‘Not my blood,' Alice wailed. ‘Solomon's.'

She recalled the thump and the scream she'd heard as they'd raced up the stairs, leaving Solomon to face Sophia alone. Surely Solomon would have had no trouble overpowering Sophia? But there was the matter of the knife … She touched her fingers to her wrist once more, wishing with all her heart she could take back the accusations she had hurled at him.

For a long moment Alex said nothing, then he exhaled. ‘Okay,' he said. ‘So we need to leave the palace and find this Doffy Figleaf and then we … well maybe Doffy Figleaf will know what to do next.'

‘And how do you propose we do that?' Alice wanted to know. ‘We can hardly knock on every door in Cornoliana and ask if Doffy Figleaf lives there.'

‘Can we go back to the bit about leaving the palace?' Tom suggested. ‘I really think we should make that our first objective.'

‘We could go back over the wall using the rope,' Alex said, then he glanced at the sun, which was creeping over the city walls to the east. ‘But we can't do it now. They'll
be sounding the alarm soon and the grounds will be swarming with Queen's Guards.'

‘So what should we do?' Tom said. He sounded frightened and Alice couldn't blame him; the thought of being caught and thrown in the dungeon was too terrible to contemplate.

At that moment a bell began to ring, shrill and urgent in the still dawn air.

‘Uh-oh,' said Alex.

Alice scanned the grounds below. ‘What if they see us up here?' she said. ‘We'll be trapped!'

‘I've got an idea,' said Alex. ‘Let's check out our old room. I'll bet it's still empty.'

‘You have a room here?' Tom sounded astonished. ‘How? Why? I thought the Sourians had occupied the palace.'

‘Long story,' said Alice. ‘But we stayed here for a while.'

‘Of course, one day this whole palace will be mine,' Alex added.

Tom's eyes widened. ‘How do you figure that?'

‘One thing at a time, Your Highness,' Alice said as they began to edge carefully across the roof. ‘Let's have a go at freeing Gerander first.'

On their hands and knees, they worked their way round to the back of the palace as quickly as they could, Alex in the lead. Alice heard faint shouts below as news of Tom's escape spread.

‘That's our window there,' Alex said, pointing.

With some relief Alice fixed her eyes on the dirty pane ahead; it gave her something to look at other than the hard flagstones of the courtyard several storeys below.

Minutes later she heaved herself over the sill and collapsed onto the floor of their old bedroom. From outside she could hear the sound of boots striking cobblestones and orders being shouted.

‘
Spread out around the grounds!
'

‘
Check the bushes!
'

‘Do you really think we're safe here?' she asked her brother.

Alex looked calm. ‘Listen to them,' he said. ‘They're presuming that we'd try to leave the palace immediately.'

‘If only,' Tom murmured.

‘The last thing they'd expect,' Alex continued, ‘would be for us to stay here right under their noses. We can just hang out here today, then tonight, when they're no longer looking for us, we'll go back to where we left our rope and sneak over the wall.'

Alice had to admit that, much as she wished they were a long way from the palace, what Alex was saying made sense.

Tom, too, was nodding. ‘I was starting to wonder if you knew what you were doing,' he said, ‘but that's a really good plan.' He looked around the small room, taking in the straw pallets, the threadbare blankets. ‘So the last time you were here,' he observed, ‘you weren't exactly honoured guests then.'

‘You could say that.'

Alex flung himself onto the straw pallet that had been his. ‘We were spies actually.' His voice was casual, but Alice knew how much he enjoyed saying it.

‘
Spies?
'

‘Yep.' Alex stretched and put his hands behind his head. ‘We were working undercover.'

Tom sat down on the other pallet then looked up at Alice. ‘Do you mind?'

‘Not at all,' she told him. ‘I never want to go near that pallet again.' And to prove her point she sat down on the floor as far away from the pallet as she could get. Which wasn't very far, given the size of the room.

‘So you were working undercover as spies in the palace of Cornoliana,' Tom said. ‘It sounds like a good story … and I've got all day.'

‘Well,' Alex began, ‘we were having breakfast at FIG headquarters in Stetson … it was a buffet, actually. Eggs done every which way, platters of fruit, pancakes – oh, and they had these huge jugs of maple syrup and you were allowed to have as much as you liked.'

‘Alex,' said Alice impatiently, ‘just tell the story.'

‘I'm still hungry,' Alex complained. ‘We should have stopped by the kitchen on our way here.'

‘We were being chased by Sophia,' Alice reminded him. ‘I don't think stopping for a snack was an option.'

‘Sophia is that silver-grey mouse from the dungeon – the one with the knife,' Alex explained to Tom.

Tom snorted. ‘You don't have to tell me who Sophia is. How do you think I came to be in the dungeon in the first place?'

‘That's right.' Alice recalled the conversation she and Alex had overheard when they'd been hidden under General Ashwover's desk, just before they were discovered. Sophia had referred to a hostage, whom they later discovered was Tobias's son. ‘What happened?'

Tom's lips tightened. ‘I was spending the school holidays with a friend whose family has a house by the beach. One day Sophia turned up at my friend's place saying she had a message from my father and that he needed to see me urgently. There wasn't even time to pack my bag or say goodbye to my friend and his parents. I believed her. What an idiot.'