The Snowy Tower Page 5

  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 obedientl
y 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.

  ‘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 we
re 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.