The Heir of Mistmantle (37 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

HE NEXT DAY NEEDLE AND URCHIN
again were to go to the Throne Room, but Urchin made sure he was early. From a squeak and a laugh as he knocked on the door, he knew that Cedar and Catkin were there with Crispin.

“Urchin,” said Crispin. “It’s time we talked about you two joining the Circle.”

“I know, sir,” said Urchin, who wasn’t enjoying this. He took his paw from his sword hilt to stop himself from fidgeting and said something that was even harder than he had expected. “Please, Your Majesty—Majesties—I don’t want to make trouble or seem ungrateful, but could I not join the Circle just yet? Would you mind, Your Majesty?”

He hadn’t often seen Crispin lost for words, but he seemed to be struggling now. Finally, the king said, “I have never known anyone not want to join the Circle.”

“Oh, I do want it, Your Majesty!” cried Urchin. “I think I’ve always wanted it. Everyone dreams of joining the Circle. But, sir, it’s because of Juniper. He’s my friend, we’re sort of brothers, I have to look out for him. I know he feels he’s in my shadow, sir, and for me to be part of the Circle and not him…” Suddenly realizing that Crispin might misunderstand him, he went on quickly, “I’m not asking you to admit Juniper to the Circle at the same time. I know Needle and I are very young to be admitted, and he’s younger than we are. It’s just that it would be better for Juniper if I waited until he’s either admitted to the Circle or ordained as a priest, and so he has an honor of his own.”

“You realize,” said Crispin, “that if you refuse to be admitted, Needle will refuse too? You won’t be admitted without Juniper, and you can be certain she won’t be admitted without you.”

“Yes, I know,” said Urchin, who had already thought of this. “I don’t know what to do about that. I don’t want to hold her back. They’re both my friends.”

“And very good friends,” said Crispin. “Priests aren’t usually admitted to the Circle because they become members of it by right as soon as they’re ordained, and it’s good for them to be different from the other members. Priests need to be able to put the rest of us right from time to time. As you point out, he’s very young. And I can’t make him a Companion to the King because he’s needed at Fir’s right paw, not mine.” He glanced past Urchin at Cedar. “Give us time to think about this, Urchin.”

A guard rapped at the door with a call of “Miss Needle!” and Needle trotted in. Catkin squeaked happily at her.

“Hello, Needle, we’re just talking about the Circle,” said the king. “And there should be an honor for Sepia, too. She’s very busy, but I wonder if she’d like to be a Companion to the King?”

“Well…” said Needle cautiously, and couldn’t help glancing toward Cedar and Catkin.

“I see,” said Crispin. “You think she’d rather be a Companion to the Queen? And will you take me to see the Threading of Captain Lugg?”

On the shore, Fir smiled as he raised his face to the sky. He supposed he should never be surprised any more at the way the Heart made good things come from the most terrible circumstances. But he couldn’t help feeling surprised, pleasantly so. Catkin was found, disease was over, the islanders were working together to repair each other’s houses after the landslide, prayers were being said every day in the place where Husk fell. The little ones were having a wonderful time building a raft. No doubt, after this, they would expect Fingal to spend morning after morning punting them about the shore, and they would shuffle together to see how many animals they could get on before it began to sink. In a quiet cove near Twigg’s new workshop, a team of carpenters worked on a boat about which Fingal knew nothing at all. Young animals hopped about the rocks playing Find the Heir of Mistmantle while Siskin told everyone who’d listen that the king knew her name.

All would be well. Whatever happened.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

HEY’RE ALL RIVERING UP THE STAIRS
!” exclaimed Whittle. It was impossible even to see the tower stairs as the animals, in their best hats and cloaks, swarmed up to the door.

“They’re doing what?” inquired Crispin.

“I mean, pouring up the stairs like a river,” said Whittle, “except rivers don’t go up. It’ll be even more like a river when they go down again.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be looking after Brother Fir?”said Crispin.

“I think this is a time just for him and Juniper,” said Whittle, “so I said perhaps I should offer to help Mistress Tay today, and Brother Fir said yes. And I reported to Mistress Tay, and she said thank you very much, but she coudn’t bear any more distractions and responsibilities today, and I should report for duty to another senior animal. But everyone’s so busy, I can’t get near anyone to report to except you, Your Majesty.”

“Can he report to me, Your Majesty?” said a mole guard behind him. “Special guests are to go in by the Spring Gate. Nip down there, son, and look out for any special guests, and show 'em up to the Gathering Chamber.”

“How do I know if they’re special guests?” asked Whittle.

“They’re the ones looking for the Spring Gate, aren’t they?” said the mole. “Squirrel yourself off, then!”

Whittle leaped for the nearest window, measured the jump, scrabbled a bit, and ran down the wall. A mole at the foot of the main stairway was trying to make himself heard as he shouted, “King Crispin’s special guests to the Spring Gate!” It appeared that the special guests all carried leaves bearing Crispin’s clawmark and were showing them to the guard. A female squirrel in a dark blue cloak was hurrying toward it, and Whittle quickly caught up with her.

“Excuse me,” he said, “aren’t you…”

“I’m Apple, that’s me, son, I’m Urchin’s mum, well his foster-mum, you know how it is, I know you, you’re the one who’s learning the history and the law, it must be wonderful to have all that up in your head, don’t know where you find room for it all.” She took Whittle’s offered arm and let him escort her to the Spring Gate—past the spring and Padra and Urchin’s quarters and the back stairway, through a long corridor and up another stair which would bring them to the Gathering Chamber in the opposite direction from everyone else. He had to slow down to Apple’s pace.

“Never thought this would happen, never in the old days when I was small,” she said. “Think of me, coming into the tower the special guests’ way, used to work in the laundry here when I were young, but I always left my heart in the wood, I went back, stopped in the wood all my life, got good friends, and here I am, and my Urchin…” She stopped so suddenly that Whittle was alarmed, but after catching her breath and rubbing her eyes she went on,“…and my little Urchin in the Circle! And our Needle, she’s a little smasher, she made me this cloak special for today.”

She turned toward the door of the Gathering Chamber, but Whittle steered her away.

“Special guests in the gallery,” he said, and led her up a stairway to the new gallery which had first been built for Crispin’s coronation. If she was a little disappointed that the rest of the islanders might miss out on seeing her beautiful new blue cloak and her freshly decorated hat, she was soon comforted, for, as she leaned over the edge of the gallery, an oak leaf fluttered down from her hat and landed on the head of a small Anemone Wood hedgehog.

“Apple!” he squeaked! Heads turned. “Ooh, look, it’s Apple!” called someone, and for a few proud and bewildering seconds, Apple stood at the front of the gallery and waved to her friends. Then Needle and Sepia’s families came to join her, and they all bustled about putting the littlest animals to the front so they could see and keep at a safe distance from the more prickly hedgehogs, while Scufflen pointed to every Threading he could see and said loudly that his sister made that one.

Apple sat back and admired the decorated hall, garlanded with autumn leaves, berries, and evergreens. Chairs had been arranged on the dais for Crispin, Cedar, and Fir, with more behind for Padra and Arran. The last chair on the row had been spread with a blue cloak, a sword, and a circlet.

In the anteroom, Urchin and Needle sat perched on a chest. It was the chest in which the robes were kept, where, long ago, Urchin had discovered the leaves which had helped to bring about Husk’s downfall. He had been up very early in the morning—not difficult, as he’d found sleep impossible—and Arran had helped him to groom himself so that his fur gleamed softly, his ears and tail tip were neatly brushed, and his claws clean and trimmed. His sword was polished to such brightness that it flashed in the late autumn sunlight. Needle, too, was groomed to perfection, her sharp spines neat and smooth. When Needle said, “It’s a bit odd, all this, isn’t it?” Urchin felt he knew why Crispin had waited until now to admit them to the Circle. Things would have to change now. There would be responsibilities to take, decisions to share. Animals would come to them with their worries.

Usually the captains and Mistress Tay robed in this room, but today they were using the royal chambers, leaving the anteroom to the new members of the Circle. Urchin wished Padra and Arran would stride into the room, talking and laughing and making everything easy and relaxed.

“Are you all right, Needle?” he asked. Needle didn’t snap at him or say that of course she was, she just said quietly, “Are you?” and took his paw.

“I am now,” he said. “Now I know Crispin has something in mind for Juniper.”

“Do you think we’ll ever play games in the wood again, and explore tunnels, and all that?” she wondered aloud.

“Oh, yes, of course we will!” said Urchin. It was impossible that they wouldn’t. Then Needle jumped up.

“Listen!” she said.

In the Gathering Chamber, a mole was calling the animals to order. After a moment of tingling silence, a fanfare of trumpets and the high, pure voices of the choir announced the coming of the king. Urchin and Needle hopped to the door where they could see the dais.

The Circle animals arrived first, in embroidered cloaks—Russet and Heath, Docken, Tay, Moth and Spade, and Mother Huggen. Juniper followed, wearing a tunic that Urchin couldn’t remember seeing before, then Padra and Arran, and, at last, King Crispin and Queen Cedar, crowned and cloaked, and looking happier than they had been since before Catkin first disappeared. It was as if all the island’s heaviness had passed from them. Then came Brother Fir, his eyes deeply joyful as he hobbled to his place.