‘Kill her!’ Lady Mortlake ordered.
He held up a hand to silence her. As he thought, she paced to and fro, gnawing at her full red lips.
‘Perhaps killing her would be best,’ he said at last. ‘I want no complications.’
He was answered with a rush of colour to his wife’s face and a radiant smile. She swept up to him, clasping his arm with both hands as she reached up to kiss his unshaven cheek. ‘I think that’s best,’ she said, sweet and low. ‘You are so wise.’
The knights unsaddled the horses and led them into one of the stables. Some of the horses were so exhausted they could scarcely stumble along. One had a thin figure draped over the saddle. In the light of the torches thrust into brackets on the stable wall, Quinn recognised the lank, dark hair of Lord Mortlake’s son. ‘Is that Cedric?’ Lady Mortlake asked. ‘What’s wrong with him?’
‘He passed out a while back,’ Lord Mortlake said.
‘Such a weakling,’ said Lady Mortlake. ‘I suppose he fainted at the sight of blood. Well, at least you managed to take Wolfhaven Castle,’ she added. ‘Your plan worked.’
He frowned. ‘Of course my plan worked. It was flawless. At least, it was until Lady Elanor slipped my leash, but we have her now.’
Lady Mortlake was radiant. ‘And soon she’ll be dead, and her stubborn father with her.’
‘No, I have a need of him first.’
She frowned, and he tapped her under the chin.
‘Never you fear,’ said Lord Mortlake. ‘He won’t be alive long.’
Lady Mortlake smiled and clapped her hands together.
Lord Mortlake looked up at the castle. ‘So where is she?’
‘I’ll take you to her. I warn you, she has other brats with her. And some kind of awful hairy creature.’
‘They will all need to die,’ Lord Mortlake said.
‘Before we kill them, will you do something for me? Will you kill that beast in the stable? It’s been making such a racket, it has given me a headache.’
‘Ailith, I’ve fought all day and ridden all night—’
‘You want me to have a headache? Maybe your horrible mother is trying to poison me … I want the unicorn’s horn too.’
An electric thrill ran over the children crouched behind the barrels. Quinn’s and Tom’s eyes met in wild excitement.
‘Did she just say unicorn?’ Sebastian whispered.
Elanor nodded, her eyes round with amazement.
‘Mother’s not poisoning you, Ailith,’ Lord Mortlake said impatiently.
His wife shouted, ‘If a unicorn’s horn can save you from plague, pestilence and poison, it’s bound to help cure a headache. Kill the wretched beast! I want the unicorn’s horn and I want it now!’
‘Very well,’ he answered, shrugging wearily.
Lady Mortlake smiled at him. ‘See you back upstairs.’ She sashayed away, and Lord Mortlake drew his sword with a swift hiss. The bog-men jerked to attention, but he waved his hand in dismissal and they relaxed back into a standing position, eye-sockets staring sightlessly forward.
Lord Mortlake strode to the stables, his sword in his hand. Quinn heard the stable door being unlocked and unbolted.
A high, shrill neigh of defiance pierced the air, and Elanor’s whole body tensed.
‘That’s enough of that,’ Lord Mortlake said. ‘I need your horn, beast.’
Elanor leapt to her feet and hurtled out from behind the barrels.
‘Elanor, no!’ Tom cried, but she was gone.
18
SWORD MET SWORD
Tom ran after her, Quinn and Sebastian close behind.
They were just in time to see Elanor head-butt Lord Mortlake from behind. ‘You’re not killing that unicorn!’ she shouted.
Lord Mortlake stumbled forward, but he was a tall, strong man and Elanor was only slight. He did not fall, but recovered his balance and spun around, his sword instantly swinging out.
It met Sebastian’s sword with a clash of metal. Sebastian staggered at the force of the blow, but fought back manfully. Sword met sword, but it was an unequal contest. Lord Mortlake had immense strength, and tall as he was, Sebastian only came up to his shoulder.
‘Get him, Sebastian!’ Tom shouted. ‘Watch out!’
Sebastian was being forced back against a great pile of hay. His arm was tiring, his sword waving wildly. Tom lifted his bow and fired an arrow at Lord Mortlake. It clinked against his armour and fell to the floor. Lord Mortlake did not even look around. Instead he raised his sword and brought it down towards Sebastian in a great, sweeping arc.
Then Fergus streaked past and leapt upon Lord Mortlake, bearing him down to the ground. His great sword clattered on the cobblestones. Lord Mortlake threw the dog off him and rolled, reaching to recover his sword. Tom kicked out and sent the sword spinning away. Lord Mortlake aimed a blow as he staggered to his feet, but Tom dodged it and managed a quick kick at the back of the knight’s knee. Lord Mortlake dropped to his other knee, but reached out his arm and took Tom down with him.
Sebastian rushed forward, his sword dropping unheeded as he sought to drag Tom free. Quinn seized Lord Mortlake’s arm, clinging onto it with all her strength. He flailed his arm wildly, and she was shaken up and down, but did not let go. Fergus, barking madly, lunged forward and clamped his teeth onto Lord Mortlake’s backside, where there was a gap in his armour. Shocked, Lord Mortlake dropped Tom, spinning and trying in vain to dislodge the wolfhound.
Suddenly Elanor brought a metal bucket down hard on Lord Mortlake’s head. His eyes rolled up, and he fell with a great clatter to the ground.
Panting, the four children stood around him, watching him warily. He did not move. Behind them came a soft whicker. All four pairs of eyes flew up.
It was hard to see the unicorn in the shadowy stable. Tom could only tell that the unicorn was huge, bigger even than the carthorses that pulled the farm ploughs. Elanor breathed on her ring, and soft light shone out, glinting on the chains that kept the great beast harnessed and hobbled. They all stared in wonder.
The unicorn’s coat was the dark silvery-brown of a winter moor, his mane and tail black as night. He dipped his head and pawed the ground. A long, black, spiralling horn sprang from between his dark eyes.
‘Oh, he’s incredible,’ Elanor breathed. She ran across the stable, and began unbuckling the unicorn’s hobbles. His hooves were as big as plates and fringed with shaggy black hair. He bent his head and nuzzled Elanor, as if in thanks. Fergus whined and lifted his nose, and the unicorn touched it with his black muzzle.
‘Quickly!’ urged Tom. ‘We have to get out of here!’
The beast was so tall that it was hard to reach the buckles which kept the heavy harness strapped about his back and shoulders. Sebastian had to drag over a bale of straw to stand on while he undid the straps. Quinn rushed to unfasten all the other buckles, while Tom unchained the unicorn from the wall. The unicorn had a dark stripe that ran down his spine, and more dark marks on his legs, like the streaks on the silver bark of a birch tree.
‘Leave the bridle on so we can ride him,’ Elanor said. Her face was lit up with awe. ‘He’s so big; he can easily carry two of us.’
‘Let’s get away as fast as we can,’ Tom said. ‘Girls, you ride the unicorn. We’ll run along beside.’
‘I can’t ride,’ Quinn said, looking up at the great horned beast in trepidation.
‘I can,’ Elanor said. She jumped up onto the bale of straw, then deftly sprang up onto the unicorn’s back, tucking her skirts around her legs. ‘Quick, you can hang onto me.’ She gathered the reins as Quinn scrambled up.
Sebastian retrieved his sword and Tom’s lost arrow, and the two boys ran after the unicorn. The little girl Eugenie stood next to the barrels, her thumb in her mouth.
‘Thank you for helping us, Eugenie,’ Quinn called to her.
She nodded her head in response.
A shout of warning rang out. Tom spun around. Men were running out of the guard-room at
the far end of the courtyard, wielding weapons. ‘Stop them!’ a woman’s voice shouted. ‘I want them captured and destroyed!’
Lady Mortlake stood on the steps, her hair flying in the wind like a tattered black mantle. Her eyes were strange and wild. The knights ran forward, swords glinting, their faces hidden behind their visors, and the bog-men came horribly to life, breaking into a run and shaking their spears.
The unicorn galloped across the courtyard, the two girls clinging to his back. Tom and Sebastian raced after them, Fergus at their heels, and the pursuing bog-men dangerously close. Then Eugenie pushed over one of the barrels, right in the path of the creatures. The barrel fell and broke, releasing a gush of some black, stinking liquid. Eugenie looked at Tom, her eyes filled with urgency, then she turned and ran into the stable.
The smell triggered a flash of memory for Tom. As he ran through the gateway, he grabbed one of the torches from its bracket on the wall and flung it behind him. At once, a great roaring wall of flame flared up. The soldiers and bog-men nearby were blown off their feet and had to scramble away to avoid being burned to death. As the flames filled the gateway, the soldiers ran for water, while Lady Mortlake screamed in anger, ‘Get them! Get them!’
But flames roared between the soldiers and the escaping children.
Tom ran after his friends into the dark, stormy night. Fergus barked victoriously, bounding along at the unicorn’s side. Above him, Elanor’s ring blazed, lighting the way.
Sebastian looked back at Tom, grinning. ‘A unicorn! Who would believe it? Maybe this mad quest is not so impossible after all!’
Behind the barrier of flame, Lady Mortlake screamed. ‘I will find you! I will find you wherever you hide, and I’ll have your guts for garters!’
Published by Scholastic Australia
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First published by Scholastic Australia in 2014.
This electronic edition published by Scholastic Australia Pty Limited, 2014.
E-PUB/MOBI eISBN: 978-1-925064-31-5
Text copyright © Kate Forsyth, 2014.
Cover illustration, maps and gifts by Jeremy Reston.
Logo design by blacksheep-uk.com.
Internal photography: brick texture on pages i and iii © GiorgioMagini | istockphoto.com; castle on page ii and folios © ivan-96 | istockphoto.com; skull on page 55 © Frankie_Lee | istockphoto.com; ring on page 73 © Czalewski | Dreamstime.com; dragon on page 84 © ZarkoCvijovic | istockphoto.com; bird on page 129 © Elena Belous | istockphoto.com; wolf head on page 165 © Tronin Andrei | shutterstock.com.
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Kate Forsyth, Escape From Wolfhaven Castle
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