Thrice Upon a Marigold (11 page)

Chris was getting rather used to this young man asking important questions in a respectful way, and he liked it. He never wanted to turn into one of those monarchs who started thinking he was always right because nobody was ever brave enough to question him. With a wife like Marigold, the chances of that happening were dim, he admitted, but he didn't mind having someone else question him, too.

“Well, the trail stops here,” Chris said. “But that could be just because I can't read it well on the rocks. I'm guessing, however, they're as tired of running as we are, and they're carrying Poppy, too. So it seems logical that they'd at least consider stopping here, though you're right, it definitely wouldn't be Vlad's first choice. So let's have a look, all right?”

“Yes, sire. That is completely cogitable.” Sebastian was very pleased to be getting such an inside look at how sensibly and logically the king's mind worked. It was giving him a great feeling of confidence in his monarch, and also causing him to like Christian quite a bit.

Cogitable,
thought Phoebe.
Wow.

 

Down in their hole, Emlyn and Fogarty could hear voices. Once the voices stopped, they heard footsteps coming across the rocks, sliding and stumbling, but coming closer. Emlyn put her hand over Fogarty's mouth, just in case. Fogarty could be a little unpredictable. However much they wanted to be rescued, they needed to know who was out there before they revealed themselves. After all, these woods were full of rogues and brigands—rather like themselves, in fact—and being discovered might be worse than the fix they were already in.

 

Phoebe, perhaps because she was shortest and therefore closest to the ground, was the one who spotted the hole. Just in case there was someone down there, she didn't want to be obvious about it, so while she was yanking on Sebastian's sleeve and pointing at the opening, she was saying loudly, “This is a waste of time. Nobody could be hiding in this mess. It really is just a giant's playground.”

Sebastian waved his arm to attract the king's attention. At the same time, he was answering Phoebe. “I agree. I don't think there's any place big enough to hide in there. Your Highness, I think we should move on.”

U
P ABOVE
, S
EBASTIAN AND
Phoebe heard that sound. Phoebe jumped up and down a couple of times, pointing hard at the hole. Christian and Rollo, too, raised their eyebrows and cocked their heads in question. Sebastian nodded emphatically and mouthed, “They're down there.”

Chris pulled Sebastian out of earshot of the hole while Rollo kept an eye on it. “Are you sure?” he whispered.

“Both Phoebe and I heard something. I suppose it could be some sort of animal. But if that was the case, I think we'd have heard more than just that one sound.”

“Good thinking,” Chris said, patting Sebastian's shoulder. “I wonder if they're armed. Or if there's another way out of there.”

“If there was another way out, I think they'd have taken it,” Sebastian said. He was becoming less and less hesitant about giving his straight opinion to his king. In fact, he was forgetting that Chris
was
his king. “As for weapons, I don't know. But they did leave the lodge in a big hurry. Maybe too fast to grab anything.”

“Let's hope so,” Chris said. “Because we're going to have to get them out. Which may involve going in after them.”

“Yes, I agree,” Sebastian said.

“First we'll have to move some rocks to make the hole bigger. But we'll have to be careful, just in case there are weapons. As soon as we start moving rocks, they'll know we're on to them.”

“We'll have to be fast,” Sebastian said.

Chris nodded. “We can be. Let's get started.”

The four of them hauled a few big rocks away, allowing cool spring light to pour down into the hole. Then they stood back, waiting to see if any sort of missile came flying out.

None did, since Emlyn had unwisely thrown out all the rocks that had been at the bottom of the hole.

It was at this point that Chris realized he wasn't sure what they would do if they got the kidnappers out. He assumed there were four, two of whom were the nastiest, scariest, most devious brutes the kingdom had ever seen. He had his halberd, Rollo had his battle ax, and Sebastian had his mace, but Phoebe had nothing. Having left two guards at the dragon's lair and sent one back to the castle, he feared the search party was now seriously outnumbered and underprepared.

Cautiously, Chris peered into the hole. All he saw were two pairs of feet. Two? Where were the others? Where was Poppy? What had they done with her? He could feel rage building up, but he worked to suppress it, knowing that a hot head is not often a wise head.

He brandished his halberd over the hole and yelled, “Who's in there? Are you too cowardly to answer?”

Apparently they were. The feet did not move.

“It appears there are only two people in there,” Rollo said.

“Yes,” Christian agreed. “But which two?”

“I'll bet you can guess,” Sebastian said.

After a moment's consideration, Chris said, “You're right. Vlad and Boris would never allow themselves to be trapped in such a dead end. It's got to be the laundress and the other footman.”

“Which means the Terrible Twos have escaped with your daughter,” Sebastian said in a quiet voice. “They wouldn't have left her behind with the ransom still unpaid.”

“Yes,” the king said, equally solemnly. “And I would bet all two million ducats that these two have been cut out of their share.”

“Knowing Vlad as I do, I'm afraid I have to agree with you.”

Chris took a deep breath. “Well, even if they have been betrayed, they surely know something. So we must take some time to think about how to get them out of there. They're down too deep for us to reach them.”

“And I believe it would be beyond foolish for anyone to try to go in after them. Only one person at a time could fit and that person would be way too vulnerable while he did it.”

“We might as well get some rest,” Chris said to Rollo, Phoebe, and Sebastian. “We need to come up with a plan for what to do next. They aren't going anywhere, and we have no idea where Vlad and Boris have gone.” He stopped talking before the quaver he could feel behind his words became obvious. Then he sat down with his back against a sun-warmed rock and closed his eyes.

Rollo kept watch over the hole. Phoebe and Sebastian seated themselves while Phoebe rolled the wonderful word
egregious
around in her mind.

Speaking softly, so as to not disturb Chris or let Rollo hear, Phoebe said, “What would you do if you knew it was your father down there?”

Sebastian took a long time to answer. Finally he said, “I would wish we could just leave him there. Seal up that opening and leave him there.”

“Me, too,” Phoebe whispered. “If it was my father. But it makes me ashamed to think that. It's something he would do without a qualm, and I don't want to have a single thought that's anything like one that he would have.” She felt tears come to her eyes, then fought them back.

After another long pause, Sebastian said, “We all get mad and think crazy, cruel thoughts sometimes. But to
act
on them is what's barbarous. Only a few do that. Like the Terrible Twos. That's what makes them terrible.”

“You said
barbarous,
” Phoebe said in admiration.

“Something wrong with
barbarous
?
”

“No. Nothing. That's what's so great. It's the perfect word. Hardly anybody can do that, get just the perfect word. You do it all the time. The king's not bad at it, either—after all, he said
egregious—
but you're better. I've been noticing.”

Suddenly Sebastian felt too self-conscious about his vocabulary to say anything at all.

And as usual, when Phoebe herself felt self-conscious, she spouted an odd fact. “Did you know that a hummingbird can beat its wings seventy times in one second?”

“No,” Sebastian said. “I didn't know that.”

After that they were both silent, keeping an eye on the hole. And on each other.

 

After what seemed a very long time, when the sun was past the zenith in the western sky and the afternoon air was cooling, Sebastian and Phoebe got to their feet and went to stand next to Christian, who still rested against the rock, his eyes closed. Sebastian cleared his throat loudly.

Chris opened his eyes and blinked a few times. “Yes, Sebastian? Phoebe? What is it?”

“I think Phoebe and I have come up with a way to get them out of there without anybody getting hurt,” Sebastian said.

“And I've got a few ideas myself.” Chris sat up straighter. “Let's hear yours.”

“First, we roll some of these rocks down into the hole. Big rocks. Just a little smaller than the diameter of the hole.”

Chris's expression brightened. “I see where you're going with this. Then what? I'm thinking fire myself.”

“Yes, sire. That's what I was thinking, too.”

“And then vines,” Phoebe said. “From those trees right over there.” She pointed.

Christian jumped to his feet. “Brilliant!”

Once all the rocks were collected, Chris yelled down into the hole, “Look out below if you don't want to get hit by a rock! There are a lot of them coming down!”

On Sebastian's signal, they began pushing the rocks into the hole, one after another. When the final stone had been pushed in, Chris, Sebastian, Rollo, and Phoebe stood coughing in the dust that had been stirred up.

“I think that's enough to do the trick,” Sebastian said. “Now the fire.”

Phoebe had gathered a pile of dried moss and twigs next to the hole, and she watched as Chris took a flint and steel from his knapsack. Those were things no experienced woodsman ever went into the forest without. As Chris stood over the little pile, struggling to strike a spark big enough to ignite it, he muttered, “I wish somebody would hurry up and invent matches. This is really tedious.”

Finally a spark fell into the dried moss and a wisp of smoke rose from it. Gently, coaxingly, Chris, Sebastian, Phoebe, and Rollo blew on the tiny spark until the whole pile caught and became a merry little blaze with lots of smoke.

“Perfect!” Phoebe exclaimed, clapping her hands.

“Well done, sire,” Sebastian said.

“Not bad, if I do say so myself,” Chris said. “Now we need more tinder.”

Bit by bit they added fuel until the fire was so big, they wished they had some marshmallows. Then Rollo took his battle ax and used it to push a burning section down the hole.

“Hey!” Emlyn yelled. “What are you trying to do, burn us alive?”

“Finally,” Chris said. “A reaction.”

“No!” Sebastian yelled into the hole. “We just want you out of there! The smoke is encouragement. If you pile up the rocks, you can climb out.” Rollo pushed another burning section into the hole.

“As the smoke gets worse in there, you'll probably have to,” Phoebe called. “We can wait!”

It didn't take long before they could hear a commotion, though the smoke made it impossible to see what was going on. Suddenly, through the billows, out popped Emlyn.

“None of this was my idea!” she shrieked. “I'm a victim myself! They threatened me with terrible things if I didn't cooperate!”

As her feet reached solid ground, she tried to run, but Rollo and Sebastian grabbed her before she could get anywhere. Phoebe was quick with the vines, and they had Emlyn tied up before she was quite sure what had happened. But that didn't shut her up.

“I was just a happy laundress!” she exclaimed. “Minding my own business. I'd never even met them, the Terrible Twos. Especially that time Fogarty and I got lost in the forest, looking for a private place to . . . I mean, to have a picnic. I never even knew we were so close to where they lived, out past the dragon. And nobody ever mentioned there could be so much money involved in a kidnapping. What would I want with all that money? I was a happy laundress.”

“Is there any way to muzzle her?” Phoebe asked. “I can't stand all these excuses.”

Chris delved into his knapsack and brought out a clean diaper, which he'd brought figuring Poppy would need it by the time they found her. He took pleasure in jamming it into Emlyn's mouth, cutting off her stream of pleas and denials.

“I hope you've got another one of those,” Rollo said as Fogarty emerged, coughing and bellowing, “She's the one got me into all this! I was proud of my position as a footman in the castle. I had no interest in any kidnapping! None! She made me!” Muffled howls came from Emlyn as Phoebe and Rollo trussed Fogarty with the vines and gagged him with another diaper.

Christian picked his halberd up from the ground and ran his thumb along the very sharp edge of the blade. “Which one of you wants to tell me where Vlad and Boris have gone with my daughter?” he asked calmly.

Emlyn's eyes got very big and she shook her head wildly. Her hair, which had long since come undone from its bun, flopped back and forth across her face while she grunted noises, presumably of denial.

Fogarty shook his head, too, squealing in fear.

“You mean neither of you knows where they've gone?” Chris asked.

They continued shaking their heads and moaning.

“Then I guess it's back to the castle and the dungeons for the two of you,” Chris said. “I'd hoped I wouldn't have to do that.”

He really had hoped that. He'd hoped they would tell him where the villains and his baby were, so that he, Sebastian, and Rollo with their weapons—and Phoebe with her wits—could go right there and foil the kidnapping. Now things were much more difficult and complicated.

“May I suggest something, sire?” Sebastian asked.