The Snowy Tower (6 page)

‘Grab those packs,’ ordered Sniffer. ‘Load the packs on some horses and put out that fire.’

The uninjured soldiers scurried to do Sniffer’s bidding. Lily sagged between two of the captors, her mind spinning. Escape. Escape. How could they escape? The horses were gone. Aisha was gone. Ethan was injured. Charcoal was … who knew where? But hopefully Roana and Saxon were safe, and so were the Sun Gem and the Moon Pearl.

Ethan was roughly tied and thrown over the withers of a soldier’s horse, his legs hanging down the left side while his arms hung down the right. He fought nausea as the blood rushed to his head. His
nose started to bleed again, dripping down into the dust. Lily was similarly tied and thrown up in front of Sniffer.

‘What about the other two?’ asked one of the soldiers, nervously.

‘I cannot track them in the dark,’ snapped Sniffer. ‘Besides, we have the princess at last, and we have the packs, so I think we will find what we are looking for. Shame we didn’t finish off that dog. Hopefully it has crawled off somewhere to die. We will head to that little forest hut a couple of kilometres back to spend the night.’

Sniffer led the procession out of the darkened glade, like a royal conqueror, grinning triumphantly to himself.

To the south, as it grew dark, Captain Malish ordered his men to make a camp and set two men to stand guard.

Lord Mortimer seemed reluctant to dismount. His mind followed the road winding ahead into the forest, yearning for his cousin’s only daughter, his coveted bride.

‘It is too dark to ride on, Mortma,’ snapped
Captain Malish. ‘We will find the grubby brats in the morning.’

Lord Mortimer dismounted reluctantly, throwing his reins to the overworked groom. He tossed his ponytail contemptuously and strode up and down, before sinking down by the fire, as though he were sinking onto a throne.

Lord Mortimer fell asleep by the fire, dreaming of his wedding and coronation in the Great Hall of the Palace of Tira.

Princess Roana had no idea where she was riding. Moonbeam trotted delicately over fallen branches and decaying logs, followed by Saxon on Caramel, followed by Mischief, Nutmeg and Toffee. They didn’t know that much further behind came Aisha, hopping painfully but valiantly on three legs, with her slashed hind leg dripping blood onto the leaf litter of the forest floor.

Roana’s mind whirred with concern for Lily and Ethan. Had they been captured? Were they all right? How could they help them?

In the darkness, she did not see a watching guard hidden behind a tree. She did not see the cold hard
steel of the dagger until it was pressed against her throat. She did not see the danger until it was too late.

‘What have we here?’ asked the guard as his hand closed on Moonbeam’s halter. Roana and Saxon had no weapons, no Aisha, no resources left. They had no choice but to surrender and go with the shadowy guard. Who knew where? Roana slumped forward, a huge lump in her throat.

Quickly and efficiently, their captor tied their hands together with the horses’ lead ropes, then gagged them both with filthy rags. He kept his dagger close to Saxon’s throat to ensure their compliance. Roana and Saxon had to concentrate to keep their balance on horseback with no saddles and their hands tied.

Through the darkness of the dense forest their captor strode quietly, leading Moonbeam and Caramel by their halters. Nutmeg, Toffee and Mischief followed behind, their lead ropes trailing.

At last their captor reached a tree. He stopped and whispered a password. Another man stepped out from hiding, staring curiously at the captives on horseback. He waved them on before melting back into the shadows.

Over the rustle of the horses’ hooves, they could hear the sound of low voices and smell the smoke of
a fire. Their captor led them into a large clearing and unceremoniously dragged them from their horses. Saxon and Roana struggled furiously as their legs hit the ground and received a quick cuff for their troubles.

‘I found two of them,’ announced their captor gruffly to the numerous black shadows the children could now see huddled around a small fire. ‘Looks like they caught the other two – the blonde girl and the boy with the bow.’

‘Well done,’ answered a tall man, rising to his feet. ‘Bring them over near the fire. Let’s take a good look at them.’

Saxon’s heart sank to the soles of his scuffed boots. He cursed inwardly. He had failed. He had failed in the most important role his friends had given him – to keep Roana and the gems safe from harm.

The Sedah soldiers rapped loudly on the door of the woodsman’s cottage along the trail back towards Tira. The woodsman, and his wife and four children, were brusquely ordered to leave. With shocked, pale faces they left their home to sleep in
the forest. They were not allowed to take even a blanket to keep the cold night air away.

The woodsman’s wife stared anxiously at Ethan and Lily, trussed like plucked ducks, still lying over the horses’ necks. One of the Sedah guards pushed her roughly in the back, lifting his pike staff threateningly. The woman stumbled and cried, gathering her own children to her protectively before hurrying off into the deep twilight of the forest.

Sniffer strode into the small two-room cottage. The main room had a fire burning in the grate, with an iron pot bubbling over it, a scrubbed pine table and some carved timber chairs. A low overhead loft held two pallet beds and a chest where the family obviously slept, above the warmth of the chimney. The smaller room had no fire and seemed to be used as a storage room, filled with tools, benches, sacks and baskets.

Lily and Ethan were roughly thrown into this room and left in the darkness, tied up at hands and feet. Uselessly, they struggled against the ropes that tied them. They tried to use their fingers to unpick the knots. They strained to wriggle across the floor to search for tools that might help them.

Outside they could hear the soldiers’ horses whickering and snorting as they were tethered,
unsaddled, rubbed down and fed. Through the timber wall they could hear Sniffer and the soldiers laughing and chatting as they huddled around the fire in the main room. The men slurped down the vegetable soup from the pot but did not bring any for Ethan or Lily.

The groom performed rough surgery on his soldier comrades, yanking out the arrow stubs from arms and thighs, and tearing up rags to wad the wounds. Lily shuddered at the muffled screams.

‘Pass me those packs,’ called Sniffer from his prime position by the fire. ‘Let’s see what we can find hidden in there.’

There were murmurs of appreciation as Sniffer handed out Cookie’s precious food rations. There was the sound of smashing glass as Sniffer tossed Lily’s precious tinctures and ointments onto the fire. Clothes and horse rugs, ropes and candles, mugs and pans were searched and tossed on the floor.

Sniffer found a bundle of maps and papers, which he glanced at briefly then tucked away.

‘By mighty Krad, there’s nothing here,’ swore Sniffer angrily. ‘We’ll search the brats in the morning.’

In the darkness of the storeroom, Lily and Ethan could see no window, just the crack of firelight
under the door. At last, they stopped struggling. Lily felt tears welling up in her eyes. She fought them down.
Be strong, be strong
, she thought to herself.

‘We should save our energy and our wits,’ Ethan whispered, nudging Lily with his shoulder to comfort her. ‘We will need them tomorrow.’

As the night grew colder, Lily and Ethan had to huddle together to keep warm. Both were bleeding and battered and cramped and desperately afraid. They whispered to each other to keep their spirits up, telling stories of other times that had been frightening, which had somehow turned out well. Ethan told silly jokes that still made Lily giggle, and they talked about Roana and Saxon and wondered where they might be sleeping in the forest, with no blankets and no food, but at least they were free and safe.

At last they fell into an uncomfortable doze, twitching and tossing, waking each other up with every startled move. They were awake long before dawn – cold, starving, stiff and uncomfortable. Both were too anxious to whisper, their stomachs knotted with fear, their mouths and throats parched, their fingers numb from lack of circulation.

At last a trickle of cold grey light spilled through the crack under the door.

Sounds of stirring came through the wall as the soldiers woke, chatted, found bread and wandered outside to water a tree.

Still no-one came near them. About half an hour later there was a commotion outside, with the sound of several horses cantering. Hope blossomed in Lily and Ethan’s hearts. They began yelling and screaming for help, leaning as close to the outside wall as they could. In a moment, an extremely annoyed Sedah guard threw open the door, holding his cutlass aloft.

‘Shut your mouths right now, or that young laddie will be feeling the curve of my cutlass,’ he hissed, before slamming the door shut again. Lily and Ethan stopped shouting at once.

From outside they could hear the sound of voices, then the sound of boots approaching the front door. Perhaps the passers-by had heard them and were coming to investigate?

More voices, this time from inside the cabin. The door opened once more and the guard returned, dragging Lily roughly to her feet. He untied the knots that bound her hands and feet, then untied Ethan’s feet.

Through the open door, they could now hear two familiar voices talking. The hope unfurling in Lily
and Ethan’s hearts immediately withered. The visitors were not here to rescue them.

‘Well, you certainly covered some ground yesterday, Sniffer,’ congratulated Captain Malish. ‘We had trouble catching up with you.’

‘Yes, sir,’ Sniffer replied. ‘I wanted to follow any tiny lead that might help me track down the princess, and as you will see it paid off. We captured one of the lads as well.’

The guard prodded Lily forward. Lily took a deep breath, then pulled herself up as tall as she could, unconsciously mimicking Roana’s regal deportment, before she walked into the next room, Ethan following behind. Her attempt at dignity was a little spoiled by the blood circulation that had been cut off from her feet for so many hours. Instead of striding bravely through the door, she had to hobble and stumble.

Standing in front of the cabin fire stood three men. Sniffer smiled proudly, his chest puffed out, like a bantam rooster in the farmyard, surveying his flock. Captain Malish turned to Lily uncertainly, examining her long tangled blonde hair, her defiant blood-streaked face, her filthy skirts. The third man was Lord Mortimer. He was wearing a smirk of unbridled joy. He waited impatiently, looking past Ethan to the room behind.

‘Well, where is my sweet little bride?’ Lord Mortimer asked eagerly. ‘Perhaps we should skip the huge court wedding and just have a brief private ceremony back in Tira today. I think we have wasted enough time already.’

Captain Malish smirked to himself. He doubted that Governor Lazlac would be allowing the traitorous Lord Mortma to become king, but there was no harm in encouraging the delusion for a little while longer.

‘Your bride?’ asked Sniffer uncertainly, gesturing towards Lily. ‘Princess Roana is right here. I found her travelling with the three boys and the big vicious dog, just as our intelligence said.’

‘That village brat is certainly not Princess Roana,’ spat Lord Mortimer, his face twisted with venom. ‘I couldn’t care less about these useless children. You should have left them in the forest to starve. Your intelligence was wrong. The last time I saw Princess Roana, she was dressed as a beggar boy. You have let her escape and I want her found – now!’

Lily stood defiant, as all eyes stared at her in shock. She was furious with anger, at Lord Mortimer’s words and the immensity of his betrayal.

The rest of the room broke into confusion at this announcement. Sniffer went pale and bit his lip, all
puff evaporated. Captain Malish fussed about, soothing Lord Mortimer’s vitriol, ordering soldiers to saddle horses, barking at the guard to lock Ethan and Lily back in the storeroom. Lord Mortimer stormed around the room swearing and kicking furniture, seething with frustration. Soldiers sprang to ready the horses.

The cutlass-wielding Sedah guard hustled Lily and Ethan back into the storeroom. He scooped up the ropes and hurriedly wound a length of rope around Lily’s body, knotting it at the back. He did not bother with their feet. The door was locked and soon there were noises of horses whickering and sidestepping, men mounting and shouting and a rumble of hooves as the cavalcade cantered out of the glade.

The cabin was silent and still. Lily and Ethan waited anxiously. Were they alone? Did Saxon and Roana have enough of a head start to escape? Would the odious Sniffer and Lord Mortimer find them despite all their endeavours?

In the forest clearing, Roana and Saxon were pushed forward into the flickering glow of the fire.
Fifteen men sat around the blaze. Four held bloody daggers, which they were using to skin a few rabbits.

‘Who are you?’ demanded the leader of the group, untying the gags and examining Roana and Saxon’s faces carefully.

‘Two brothers lost in the forest while hunting,’ Saxon answered quickly, offering up his bound hands. ‘So if you just let us go, we will be getting off home – our parents will be frantic.’

‘You don’t look like brothers,’ replied the leader tersely. ‘And I know you weren’t hunting. We’ve been following you all day.’

Saxon bit his lip.

‘Can you tell me why nearly twenty Sedah soldiers have been chasing four children and a dog, at breakneck speed, all over the countryside?’

Saxon said nothing, scuffing his boots in the dirt, as he tried to think.

‘I presume you have something, or someone, that the Sedahs want quite badly,’ the leader continued, glancing at Roana.

Roana’s heart hammered frantically in her chest. Her eyes darted around the clearing, searching for escape, searching for anything that might help them out of this predicament.

‘Well …’ Saxon mused. ‘I suppose we should tell them what’s
true,
don’t you think, Rowan, and just
whoa
? Just give in and tell them what they want to know …’