Chapter forty

Castle Uberwald

 

Lily saw the creature out of the corner of her eye while she was chatting with Erik in the garden. It was reddish brown and looked like a small rather long squirrel with huge ears. She assumed it must be an alpine mammal of some sort, but whatever it was, it was very cute.

‘Erik’ she said, rather excited, ‘what is that?’  

‘What is what?’ asked Erik who was busy pruning and resented being disturbed.

‘That furry thing over there!’ she said, pointing to the balcony of one of the apartments about a hundred feet away.  

Erik turned away from his rose bush and stared out to where Lily was pointing. He shielded his eyes with his hands and walked towards the edge of their own balcony in order to see the creature more clearly.

‘I really don’t know,’ he said, ‘it’s got huge ears! We should try to capture it!’

Lily came to join him and they watched the tupaia for a second. She noticed them looking at her and then jumped along a ledge and started to run towards them. They could see her sniffing her way towards the garden along the narrow length, passing another empty balcony on her way.

They were distracted from everything but the tupaia and so missed what might have been almost as interesting a sight – a tall man clattered through the air on to the far balcony with a thud and a suppressed cry.

The tupaia jumped down on to the balcony garden and began to devour Erik’s bed of petunias. He leapt up and went to shoo the creature away. She looked up at Erik and her white wings sprang up again – the air around her grew pink and unseasonably warm.   

‘Don’t let her fly!’ shouted Hardacre.

Erik looked up to see the tall human bending over the far balcony and gesturing wildly. Lily, without even thinking about it, swept the tupaia up into her arms. The animal’s wings disappeared immediately and she settled down, comfortable and quiet.

‘Who on earth are you?’ hissed Erik, ‘Lily – I think that I should raise the alarm’

Hardacre put up his hands and shook his head.

‘No – don’t do that – I’m not a danger – I’ve just lost my pet!’

Lily gazed down dreamily at the tree shrew. She had fallen in love.

‘This little darling is yours?’ she asked

‘Yes, she is’ said Hardacre, ‘can I come over and collect her?’

‘But who are you?’ asked Erik

Hardacre had already begun to inch his way along the narrow, but still passable ledge that ran round the edge of the rooftop apartments. It wasn’t very dangerous but it required care.

‘I’ll explain when I’m there’ he said.

Erik looked very worried and ran back into the main part of the apartment.

‘I’ll get Miss Jenkins’ he said.

Lily smiled. By this stage Hardacre had made his way to the edge of the garden.

‘He’s a silly boy’ said Lily, gesturing for him to join her, ‘no-one who has this for a pet could possibly be bad’

Hardacre jumped down. He doubted her logic but was grateful for it. He bowed low, just as Victoria came into the garden, followed, at a safe distance by Erik.

‘At your service, madam’ he said

‘Who the gods are you?’ asked Victoria, barging in front of Lily and confronting him.

‘I can’t really say, I’m afraid, but I mean absolutely no harm. I think my pet may have got lost…’

‘He was in the balcony over there’ said Lily, ‘he and this gorgeous thing just suddenly appeared’

Hardacre made a rapid decision: none of these people were very likely to be the powerful evil witch who had disrupted the folds and left a trail to here. And if that were true, then he would almost certainly need their help.

‘The young lady is correct, we teleported on to that balcony a few minutes ago from somewhere else, and now we are totally lost. Could you possibly help us find our way?’

Victoria looked at the tupaia and then back at the human. She could sense a witch when she saw one; she’d seen enough of her sister’s friends to recognise such creatures at twenty paces. This one’s materialisation was too absurd to be a trick. 

‘Possibly we can help you, but you’ll have to help us too…’ she insisted.

Hardacre nodded.

‘What help can I give you, Madam?’

Victoria smiled in satisfaction. This would be a good story to tell. 

‘We’ve been kidnapped by the Grandmaster of the Knights of the Crimson Flame’

Hardacre took a step back in astonishment. He looked over the three figures in front of him. The larger woman looked so familiar to him but he couldn’t put his finger on why.

‘Who are you, then?’ he asked.

Victoria introduced her little group.

‘This is Prince Erik, the youngest son of King Albert of Formor; this is Princess Lily, only daughter of Arnon, the Praefectus of Amansk; and I am Victoria Jenkins, Princess Lily’s governness’

Hardacre was astonished – no wonder he recognised her.

‘And I’ he said, as coolly as he could manage, ‘am Laurence Hardacre, Miss Jenkins, and I know your sister very well’

Both adults stood there speechless for a few seconds and then Hardacre recovered his composure.  He stood up straight and held out his hand for Victoria to shake. She took it.

‘And although it was not my original intention’ he said, ‘it seems that I’m here to rescue you’