The Song of the Winns (2 page)

“So what happened?” Tibby Rose demanded as the
silence lengthened.

“What happened?” repeated Uncle Ebenezer. “I'll tell you what happened—just as I was within a tail's length of the cheese, I heard a loud thump, so loud the ice around me shuddered.”

“What was it?” Tibby gasped.

Ebenezer shook his head sorrowfully. “It was Rebus,” he said. “I'd quite forgotten how my poor brother was scared of heights. He took one look into the ravine and grew so dizzy he passed out. Well of course with Rebus unconscious he wouldn't be able to pull me up once I'd reached the cheese—and I might die waiting for him to regain consciousness! There was only one thing to do: I would have to climb the rope myself. And for that, I would need both hands.” He sighed. “So, leaving that poor mozzarella all alone at the bottom of the icy crevasse, I began to climb. Inch by determined inch I scaled that sheer ice wall until at last I reached the top. Then, with my final reserves of strength, I lifted up my unconscious brother, slung him over my shoulder and carried him home.” All of Ebenezer's stories, Alistair noted, ended with him slinging Rebus over his shoulder and carrying him home.

Alistair felt a tremor in his chest as he thought of his father. It had been four years since the triplets had seen their parents—and for most of that time, they'd thought that Rebus and Emmeline were dead. . . .

“I can't believe Mom and Dad have really been alive this whole time,” said Alex, as if his thoughts had been following the same line as Alistair's.

“Do you think they'll have changed?” Alice asked in a small voice.

Ebenezer, serious now, said, “Four years in an enemy prison would change anyone. But you know, my dear, I think we will all have to get used to a great many changes now. Why, look how much you four have been through in such a short time; I'm sure your experiences will have changed you in many ways.”

“I'm even braver than I thought,” Alex boasted.

Alistair wouldn't have put it in those words exactly, but he knew what his brother meant. He definitely felt more confident, and more capable, as a result of his and Tibby's hair-raising journey through Souris.

“I'm glad to hear it,” said Ebenezer. “You may well have cause to be brave now that we have joined the resistance movement to fight for a Free and Independent Gerander—or rejoined, in the case of myself and Beezer.”

“Do you think FIG will send us on spy missions, like the one Mom and Dad went on?” Alex asked eagerly.

“Well, I hope not like the one your parents went on,” Ebenezer said, sounding alarmed. “Look how that turned out. But yes, it's possible you will be asked to undertake missions.” He sighed heavily. “As members of FIG we will all be exposed to risks and dangers; your parents risked their lives to free our homeland, and any one of us may be called on to do the same. We are going to be living a very different life now: always on the move, always looking over our shoulders. It's not what I would have wished for you. After your parents died—after we thought they had
died, I should say—Beezer and I were determined that you would have a normal, happy, safe childhood.”

“Is that why you never told us about Gerander and FIG?” Alice asked.

“That's right,” Beezer replied. “We weren't going to tell you until you were older; though now I think we might have been wrong to hide it from you.”

Even after everything he and Tibby Rose had been through on their way back to Smiggins, Alistair still thought the biggest shock he had ever had was finding out that he and his brother and sister were actually Gerandan, and that his whole family had been involved in the struggle to free their homeland from the Sourian occupation. He felt as if he'd had a whole new identity thrust upon him. He didn't mind it exactly, but it certainly took some getting used to. It was amazing to think his parents and aunt and uncle had lived with a secret so big for so many years.

And now he was the one with a secret, Alistair reflected—he and Tibby Rose. He gripped the ends of his scarf. “How much farther do you think, Aunt Beezer?” He tried to keep the impatience from his voice. A secret FIG meeting was being held near the town of Stetson in the northwest of Shetlock, right near Shetlock's border with Gerander. They had left their home in Smiggins before dawn three days earlier, and had been walking long hours each day.

His aunt replied, “It can't be far now. I was hoping we'd get there before dark, but I'm not sure we will.” She lifted her eyes to scan the sky. Alistair knew she was
watching for night hunters. And it wasn't only night birds looking for prey they had to be wary of as the light faded on this lonely road. There was a strong possibility that two Sourian spies were on their trail. “Ebenezer, let's take another look at the map,” she suggested.

While Uncle Ebenezer and Aunt Beezer murmured over the map, Alistair and Tibby Rose stood with Alice and Alex.

“We probably would have been there by now if Alex hadn't ordered the cheddar soufflé at that place where we stopped for lunch,” Alice grumbled, casting an apprehensive look over her shoulder at the road behind them. “It said on the menu it would take them an extra twenty minutes to make.”

“It was the specialty of the house,” Alex argued.

Alistair suspected it was fear making Alice so sharp with their brother. Unlike him and Tibby Rose, Alice and Alex had actually encountered the Sourian spies, Horace and Sophia, first-hand, and had only narrowly escaped being killed.

“Not far now,” Beezer reassured the triplets and their friend as they resumed walking.

Tibby Rose fell into step beside Alistair. “I can't believe how tiring all this walking is,” she said. “I can't remember being this tired when we were traveling across Souris. But it was much easier when we didn't have to carry anything.” She put her hands behind her back to ease the weight of the pack on her shoulders.

“For someone who ran away from home with nothing,
you certainly have managed to cram a lot into that rucksack,” Alistair teased. “Though we didn't really do that much walking in Souris,” he reminded his friend. “Most of the time we were paddling down a river, on the raft you made.”

“And even when we weren't on the raft, we did a lot more running than walking,” Tibby recalled ruefully. “It would have been so much easier if we could have used secret paths,” she added in a low voice, glancing at Alistair's scarf.

Alistair's hands closed on the ends of his scarf once more as Tibby referred to the secret paths that crisscrossed Gerander. Was it really possible that his mother had knitted a map of the secret paths into the scarf she had given him just before she left on her last mission?

He was distracted from these thoughts when a swooping movement caught his eye. There was something circling above them in the sky!

“It's a hawk!” Uncle Ebenezer yelled.

“An eagle!” cried Aunt Beezer at the same time.

Ebenezer ran back toward Alistair and Tibby Rose. “Hurry, everyone!” he called. Taking Tibby Rose's hand he ran toward the shelter of the shrubs at the side of the road, pushing Alistair along ahead of him. Aunt Beezer ushered Alice and Alex ahead of her.

Alistair crouched in the bushes, his heart racing, as the shape wheeled around, then descended. It was heading straight toward them! A shadow swept across the bush where he was hiding and Alistair thought he heard a
voice say, “Oh, I really don't feel well,” followed by a terrifying screech. A screech that sounded very familiar to Alistair . . .

“That's not a hawk or an eagle,” he shouted. “It's an owl!” And before his aunt or uncle could stop him, he darted out of the bushes.

2

FIG Headquarters

A
listair, come back!” called his uncle as Alistair stood in the middle of the road.

A giant owl swooped toward the ground, its talons outstretched. Alistair could just make out the shape of a mouse grasped in each talon.

“Oswald!” said Alistair, waving. “Over here.”

The owl hovered inches above the ground, then carefully released its two passengers, who stumbled a moment before regaining their balance. In the twilight Alistair saw a tall lean mouse and a small slim one in shiny black boots. It was Feast Thompson and Slippers Pink.

“We'll walk from here,” the slim mouse was telling the owl, “and meet up again later.”

“Hi, Feast!” Alistair said as the owl soared into the darkening sky. “Hello, Slippers.”

Feast Thompson and Slippers Pink turned at the
sound of his voice. Slippers, Alistair noticed, was looking distinctly queasy; she hated flying.

“Alistair! Tibby Rose!” Slippers rushed over and hugged first Alistair and then Tibby Rose, who had joined him.

By this time, the others had left the shelter of the bushes, and Alistair introduced Slippers Pink and Feast Thompson to his family.

“A pleasure to meet two of FIG's highest operatives,” said Ebenezer.

“People only call us that because we spend so much time in the air,” said Slippers, laughing.

The group continued up the road together. Slippers Pink, walking with Beezer, led the way, followed by Ebenezer and Feast Thompson.

“It's just around the next bend,” Slippers was saying. “FIG has taken over the Stetson school for our headquarters while everyone's away for the summer. The principal is a supporter.”

“And when summer's over?” Beezer asked. “Where will the headquarters be then?”

Slippers shrugged her slim shoulders. “On the move again, I suppose. Setting up camp in a cave in a remote valley for a month or two, if we're lucky. More often it's just a week or so in a forest clearing or in the scrub along a deserted stretch of coast. It's been wonderful having a real base for a while: proper beds and running water and a cafeteria. Of course, we're keeping a low profile; I doubt anyone in the village even suspects that there's anyone staying at the school.”

Alex, who was walking with Alice in front of Alistair and Tibby Rose, groaned. “We're going to be hanging out at a school? Eating in the cafeteria?” Then he let out an ooph as Alice nudged him sharply in the ribs. “Hey, what did you do that for?” he demanded.

Alice hissed, “Because Feast Thompson and Slippers Pink have more important things to worry about than what the food is—”

But before she could finish her sentence they heard Feast Thompson say loudly, “I hope Tobias has found a good chef. Slippers and I have been traveling nonstop for the last couple of weeks, and I'd give anything to sit down to a big, hearty meal.”

Alex didn't say anything, but Alistair saw him shoot a self-righteous look at Alice.

“Here's the turnoff,” Slippers said, and at a fork in the road they turned left onto a narrow road winding up through an avenue of pine trees. “The school isn't actually in Stetson itself; it's on a hill above the town. It's great for security, because there's only one road in.”

“Except if you arrive by owl,” Feast pointed out.

After about ten minutes' walking, Alistair saw that up ahead the narrow road opened out onto a large flat plateau partially enclosed by a wall of rock. He could just make out clusters of dark shapes, which must be the school buildings. As they drew close two mice stepped out onto the road to block their way.