A Tale of Two Castles

I said I was.

In the lair we set to making skewers. Three were complete when a guard wearing a red cloak appeared in ITs open doorway. Her green scalloped cap signified she served the king.

“Elodie of Lahnt?”

I felt IT tense.

“Yes?”

“You are wanted at Count Jonty Um’s castle.”

Good news! I hurried to the hook for my cloak. “Masteress, His Lordship is back!” He’d sent for me.

IT said, “Why is she wanted?”

I turned from the hook to the guard.

“For poisoning His Majesty.”

My knees weakened and I leaned against the wall. Of course they suspected me. I’d poured for him.

She continued, “And for signaling the cats against His Lordship.”





Chapter Thirty-Three

You can’t be serious!” IT said. “She’s a child.”

They couldn’t suspect me of signaling the cats! “I was performing when the cats began to stalk. An imaginary snake was coming out of my mouth. I was reaching for it with both hands. Everyone saw.”

The guard said, “She must come.”

“I am a fool,” IT said. “Who is her accuser?”

The guard hesitated. “Cellarer Bwat. Her Highness sent for you.” Her voice softened. “His Majesty’s illness has brought her very low.”

“He still lives?”

Silence. Why tell a poisoner whether or not she had succeeded?

I still leaned against the wall. “My masteress has commanded me to go nowhere without IT. I cannot disobey.”

“True. I will accompany Elodie.”

“She may not bring anyone with her. Apologies, Meenore. You shouldn’t have befriended a spy of Tair.”

That’s what they thought? “I’m not! I’ve never—”

“Meenore, you might have deduced what she is.” She advanced. “Come.”

Three more guards filled the entry.

I pushed myself away from the wall and wrapped my cloak around me. “I’ve never been to Tair. I grew up on a farm in Lahnt.”

She took my arm. “And learned to mansion on a farm?”

She walked me out or else my knees would have given way. I looked behind me. IT held the heel of a loaf of bread in one claw, ITs knife in the other. Green smoke rose from ITs nostrils. Green smoke for bewilderment? ITs mouth hung open, and ITs eye ridges were furrowed.

Could IT believe me a spy? Did IT suspect me of poisoning the king, signaling the cats, mauling an ox?

The guards set a quick pace. The one who’d addressed us, the only female, held my right elbow. Another guard had my left. I staggered along between them.

Mother! Father! Fear pounded in my ears. “If I am deemed guilty, the real poisoner won’t be caught.”

They didn’t slow.

“More people will die.” I had no idea if this was true.

What would happen when we arrived at the castle? Would a trial take place immediately?

Who would judge me, with His Highness sick, perhaps dying? The mayor? The princess? Sir Misyur, who might have done everything?

Bells chimed—the three-o’clock bells, not the long tolling that would mark His Majesty’s death. I was glad at least that the lair lay at the southern edge of Two Castles and there were no witnesses to my disgrace. But the secret wouldn’t be kept. Soon my accusal would be known in town. Eventually word would reach my family, who thought me safely apprenticed to a weaver.

The menagerie lay ahead. If only I could shape-shift.

I stumbled. The pressure on my right arm grew, although I hadn’t been trying to break free. The guard on my left complained that they were missing their meal. I had missed mine, too, and was hungry through my fright.

A guard behind me said, “Master Jak will have put something aside for us.”

Master Jak? I thought he and the taster were imprisoned. No, of course not. I was the one who would be imprisoned. Master Thiel had lied. Why would he lie about this?

To persuade Masteress Meenore to let him go.

The count’s castle rose ahead. I made myself heavy and stopped walking.

The red-cape guard snapped, “None of that!”

“I’ll take her.” The guard on my left slung me over his shoulder as if I were a sack of wheat.

My head jounced with every step. “I’ll walk!” I cried, but he didn’t put me down.

Someday I will mansion this, I thought.

Sir Misyur and Her Highness were waiting at the door to the northeast tower when I arrived, along with guards who stood so still they might have been nailed in place. My guard set me on the ground and pushed down on my cap to force a curtsy. I would have curtsied!

Sir Misyur only looked at me dolefully, but Her Highness cried, “Ehlodie! How could you have hurt him?”

“I didn’t! I wouldn’t—”

She slapped me across my face. My head swiveled with the force of the blow.

“La! Didn’t I give you my own cap?”

I put my hand up to my cheek. “Please, Your—”

“You will have an opportunity to speak,” Sir Misyur said. “Until then, you’ll be confined to the tower.”

“You’ll be comfortable in spite of your crime. I give you a princess’s word. You won’t suffer.”

“Does your father still breathe?” I shouldn’t have asked, since they believed I wanted him dead.

No one answered. I was led inside.

As I went in, I heard Sir Misyur say, “A mansioner can easily mansion innocence.”

The door thudded shut. I didn’t hear a lock turn. What need to lock a guarded door?

Facing me was the door to the donjon, closed now. On my right rose a narrow circular stairway in its own little tower attached to the big one. The stairs were dimly lit by occasional slitted windows.

My left-hand guard pulled on my elbow. He and I advanced together with Mistress Guard in the rear. The other guards remained at the bottom. After climbing once around, we reached a short landing and another shut door. The stairs continued, and so did we to the third and top story. A landing here, too, door on my left. Facing me, a ladder led upward to a trapdoor, which must have opened onto the wall walk.