The Queen and the Nobody Boy (16 page)

It turned out to be a real sleep, a very deep one. An ogre tapped on Hodie's door. “Breakfast, Lord Hodie, is ready at once.”

He hurried to dress. His leg didn't hurt at all. He had fresh socks. Fresh vest and underpants. New clean trousers, new shirt (dark blue) with button-down pockets. He shoved his feet in those excellent boots.

Breakfast looked as delicious as a princessa's breakfast in a story. Hot toast. Large eggs. Strips of hot bacon. Marmalade and raspberry jam in lordly dishes. Orange juice so cold the jug was wet on the outside (as well as in).

Allana watched Hodie as if she was starved, though it wasn't of food. Lu'nedda eyed him as well. Dardy just picked at a slice of toast.

Murgott concentrated on four slices of toast and three eggs. “Tuck in, boy,” he muttered. “An army marches on its stomach. So does a boy. Orright? Are you still with me?”

“Orright,” Hodie muttered back. “You still with me?”

Murgott gave a dark chuckle. “Some people's tactics is to wait years and years for the right chance. Other people's tactics is to have a good night's sleep. Then your brain can suss out the situation, then you can start pushin'. Orright. I'm at the sussin' stage.” With a little cough he looked at Lu'nedda. “Very good bacon. Excellent eggs. Most grateful, ma'am. Yes, I would appreciate the ogre pourin' more coffee, thanks very much. Now, ma'am, can you tell me how this wonderful city is ventilated?”

“I have other things to think about,” said Lu'nedda.

Hodie tried to smile at his mother and the Princessa. “Can I sit outside – that is, on the balcony?” he asked.

“We need to talk …” began Allana, but after another look at Hodie, she nodded. “Brush your teeth. Then put on your cloak.”

~

An obedient son would certainly put on a cloak. But first, in his bedroom, Hodie whispered to the bird. “King Jasper, this is Hodie. I'm in Um'Binnia. I might have The Ties – well, it's a cup and some other old junk. The Queen is captured. Murgott and I will try to get her out. I can't promise. That's all. Bye.”

He stuffed the bag into his satchel, slung the satchel over his shoulder, then fastened the cloak over the lot, with the bird under an arm.

An ogre came in to make the bed. It whisked up the pillow and thumped it with both fists. The last little nugget lay on the sheet – Hodie scooped it up and managed to pop it under the cloak into his top shirt pocket, which he buttoned safely.

He'd have expected a princessa's balcony to be perfect. Bits of rock were crumbling off, and scaly grey lichen grew in patches on the railing. There was no point in sitting here to get fresh air. He tried to feel the least little breath from outside the mountain city, wishing a breeze could whisk the place clean. Where was a chink through which the bird might fly out and find the sky? If the bird was magic, it should be able to pass through the rock wall. Or even to send messages through rock walls. Well, if anyone asked Hodie, he'd say a magic bird wouldn't be made with screws and wires like this one, even though it sometimes felt warm and its chest swelled occasionally as if it breathed. It was just the mechanism. The bird simply had to do its job and find King Jasper.

“Hey,” said a quiet voice nearby. Hodie glanced to the side, then down a little. Someone else leaned on the balcony of another apartment – the boy from the Zoo, the thumbs-up boy. He carried a sketch pad and pencil, and grinned from ear to ear – they had huge teeth in Um'Binnia.

Hodie eased to the side of the balcony. “What?”

“Are you really from Fontania?” mouthed the boy.

Hodie nodded.

The boy leaned over his balcony as far as possible and whispered. “Are you going to live here now?”

Hodie wrinkled his forehead and shrugged.

The boy wrinkled his forehead too as if he didn't think it would be a great choice. “My name is O'sel.”

The squirrel jumped on the rail and rubbed its face against Hodie's sleeve.

“Is that yours?” whispered O'sel.

Hodie shook his head. “It belongs to itself. Like people should.”

O'sel took one long breath, gave one short nod. “Is Allana your mother?”

Hodie gave a very short nod.

“She tells us stories. She's not supposed to …” O'sel glanced over his shoulder, then whispered again. “Stories about
outside
!
” He breathed the word as if it were pure magic.

“How often do you get out of the mountain?” whispered Hodie.

O'sel held his thumb and forefinger in a small pinch. “I visited farm once. I went nearly to edge of Great Salt Moat.”

“Where's the best way out?” Hodie held his breath.

O'sel shook his head and took a step back. Hodie held up the bird – the metal glowed softly – and asked again with a silent shrug, an open palm.

With one slow nod, O'sel pointed up and to the side – a narrow stair.

The lamp near the stair flickered as if a thread of the sour city air stirred there. Hodie stroked the tiny metal feathers shaped by King Jasper. The bird's fat little body was warm again, because Hodie had been holding it of course. He stroked the wings that hid the key that turned the mechanism and made the metal wings begin to whirr.

He held the metal bird up again in both hands. It trembled, and for a moment Hodie let himself imagine that he, an ordinary boy, had been granted a moment of magic. He breathed so close to the bird that the metal misted. “Find King Jasper. Tell him where to find his sister and the missing dragon-eagle. Tell him he must hurry here and save them both or they will die.”

~

The bird rose from Hodie's hands into the cavern. It lurched, headed for the stairs where O'sel had pointed. A bit of squirrel fluff dropped off its tail, then the bird was gone.

Hodie nodded thank you to the boy. Wide-eyed, O'sel stared at him. Then with a sudden grin he gestured,
Hurry, be secret, come down
, and disappeared back into his apartment.

Hodie peered over the railing. In the square below, teachers were gathering a group of children. Hodie watched as O'sel ran out and joined them. He knew exactly what to do.

Still at the breakfast table, Allana and Dardy murmured to each other, frowning. Lu'nedda blinked angrily at her reflection in a spoon. Hodie slipped past the table and winked at Murgott. The Corporal winked back. The squirrel hopped on Murgott's knee.

Hodie crept down and out the side door of the palace. Not a soul spoke to him. Not even the teachers noticed one extra boy arrive.

The huddle of children made room and drew him in. “We bet you can escape,” they whispered, soft and sharp. “Watch O'sel. Then be quick!”

O'sel winked at the others, and dropped his pencil case. Pens rolled everywhere. The children pretended to gather them, kicking, scrambling, rolling them further. The teachers jumped out of the way and called instructions.

In the scuffling and noise, O'sel took Hodie aside and drew a quick sketch in a notebook. Hodie realised it was a map of the mountain city, how the tunnels and caverns linked up.

As the sketch grew beneath his pencil, O'sel whispered, “Do not believe Emperor. You are not safe. Gree'sle will make sure of that. Get away, soon as you can, with Lady Allana.” He drew arrows that led to three exits, and marked the lowest one with an asterisk. “This way is best – busy but nearest. Highest one is for royal wind-car – dangerous – guards at door.”

Hodie pointed to the middle exit, but O'sel shook his head.

“Very many guards. Secret wind-cars. Rumours say they are military wind-ships. If that is true, there are many weapons. Do not go to it. Yes?”

Hodie nodded thank you and gripped O'sel's arm. “Where are the laboratories? Where is Queen Sibilla?”

O'sel glanced across the square at a large door. “Do not dare. You cannot help. Nobody wins against Prowdd'on. If you and Lady Allana escape, it is miracle. I do not know how you will survive when you are outside. But when you were baby, Dardy carried you and treasures Prowdd'on wants, on foot, over Stones of Beyond. A servant hero – that is precious and rare. You must have been saved for good reason.”

O'sel ripped the map from his notebook and squashed it into Hodie's hand. The other children gathered up the last pencils, then lined up for the teachers as neatly and silently as dolls.

~

Hodie slipped back into Lu'nedda's apartment. Good – his mother and Lu'nedda looked as if they hadn't moved. Allana gave him half a smile, but Lu'nedda didn't even notice. Murgott, still at the table, crumbled leftover toast for the squirrel. Dardy was back in the very small room, lying down. Hodie glanced in – his skin was grey, his breathing laboured. He'd had to tend the Ocean Toads for nearly two years – Toad poison was terrible stuff.

Sometimes if Hodie made his outside look calm and confident, his inside felt confident too. It didn't work this time. But he winked at Murgott, who tapped the side of his nose and gave a slight nod. Then Hodie bowed to Lu'nedda, exactly the way Sibilla bowed.

“Many thanks for the magnificent breakfast, Princessa Lu'nedda.”

Lu'nedda sat up and dropped the spoon. “Oh, thank you for saying thank you.”

Hodie bowed to his mother. “Perhaps Dardy needs some air? Murgott could help him along.”

Lu'nedda threw her hands up. “You must lie low, for many reasons.”

But Hodie's mother gave a small nod. “A gentle walk, maybe.”

“For goodness sake,” Lu'nedda said, “do what you like. I am going to see Father and see if he will keep promise.” She smiled with a smile that made her look as tough as Ogg'ward (even without the beanie). “I will say nothing about mysterious bag that rebels stole from under Gree'sle's nose. 
If my father knows I have it now, it will be awkward.” She shook her ringlets. “Skinny Gree'sle is bad influence. He encourage my father to spend money on war and very bad experiments.” She thumped a fist into the other hand. “Money should go to schools, I think. Money should not go to bother neighbouring country. It should definitely not go to torment little girl. But I am not Empress yet. I must take care not to make Father so angry that he shut me away for all time in beautiful apartment.”

Murgott glanced up. “Many beautiful ladies would be happy in such a beautiful apartment.” By the time he'd finished, his colour was as red as a rose.

“Then many beautiful ladies need development of brain!” Lu'nedda strode into her room to get herself ready. “Allana? Mr Murgott? Do not try to get out of city,” she called though the half-open door. There was more tossing across the room of petticoats, hats, handbags, a ringlet brush.

Dardy came out of the very small room as slowly as an old man.

Hodie's mother pulled Lu'nedda's door to. “Mr Murgott, I am guessing there is a plan? It will be safer to talk while we move about the city. But I do not wish to leave Lu'nedda in danger.”

A wisp of the stale air brushed Hodie's hand. It felt like sorrow now, still threaded through with bitter rage. He knew it came from levels far below. From the laboratory, he bet. They had to hurry.

He muttered to Murgott. “Bring your duffel bag.” Hodie still had his satchel, with the drawstring bag in it, under his cloak. “We have to move before somebody stops us.”

Murgott's ex-pirate's eyes bored into Hodie's. “Let's hope your brain's figured out a better idea than mine, boy.”

“What's your idea?” asked Hodie.

“None.” Murgott clapped his Um'Binnian hat on, and took Dardy's arm. “One two, one two,” he counted. “That's the way, one foot in front of the other, then switch 'em around. We call it walking. I bet you'd like a cold Fontanian ginger beer back on the veranda of the barracks. Smarten up, old friend, smarten up.”

As they started down the stairs, Dardy began to seem better with Murgott's urging. The squirrel rode on Allana's shoulder. They reached the street.

“Go that way.” Hodie pointed to a little alleyway. According to O'sel's map, it joined the stairs to the main wind-garage without having to go the way they'd come through the main streets. “Wait for me on the second landing.”

“Where are you …” began his mother.

“Didn't you know boys need to burn off energy? I'm going a steeper way.” Hodie raced around a corner to the square.

He hadn't lied. He simply hadn't said the steeper way was down to the Department of Science – if only he could get through the door O'sel had glanced at.

If even one of the things in the bag was some kind of treasure, Sibilla should have it. She'd told him not to let Prowdd'on have the bag, and Hodie wouldn't. Dardy had said the little Queen might fail, and so she might. But whether she was a Queen or an ordinary girl, Hodie was going to try to get her out.

He looked around the square. It was empty. In the far corner, he found the door. A notice on it said
Authorised Personnel only
and showed the sign of a knife. It looked like a scalpel.

~

Hodie opened the door enough to slip through, and started down a stairwell. Heat from the lower levels rose to meet him, a skein of smells, chemicals and animals, and what seemed to be ginger biscuits. Halfway down the first flight, footsteps pattered behind him … a squirrel that looked like a gathering of dust and sweepings. And soft footfall … Murgott in his Um'Binnian disguise, looking very determined and trying to tiptoe. Hodie grinned a serious grin, and Murgott grinned back.

Two flights down, the smell of animals and ginger had grown stronger. Hodie eased open the landing door and heard echoey voices in one room. There was the chink of cups, and coffee-break talk.

“Have you seen latest
Emperor Daily News
? We will vanquish Fontania in days.”

“
Prow-wow-wow
,” sang a lady's voice.

“Do shut up,” said somebody else.

“What do you think of Emperor's latest hats? Do you know each one cost three hundred dollero?”

“Yes, and we are stuck with cheapest biscuits.”

The scientists. It sounded as if they hadn't started work seriously yet. Maybe they had to wait for that until Madame-Professor Winterbee and Master-Professor Glimp arrived back. But Hodie bet that after the last lick of coffee from their scientific lips, these ones would at least be trying to look in the little Queen's ears and up her nose.

Another scientist spoke now. “Already I count her toes. Five on each foot. Not very unusual. I expect her to be regal and kick me. And she did. Then she say sorry.”

“She is young and frightened girl, not Queen with magic. But we keep examining.”

“And we examine extremely hard this afternoon, when Winterbee and Glimp come back and take charge!”

Hodie and Murgott gripped each other's arms. Even if there was such a thing as magical ability, it would not be something that scientists could scrape off a tongue or find inside like a lump of liver. Probably, Prowdd'on would punish them for not finding anything. Maybe they'd make up false results so they wouldn't have to tend the Ocean Toads.

There was the trickle of more tea and coffee being poured, and the scientists began testing each other on their equations. The footsteps of Murgott behind him, Hodie crept along the corridor past stacks of animal crates, past rooms full of even more cages. Something gave a soft
quack
. A softer
yip
, and
purr
replied as if the rabbits and birds and mice were giving signals.

The squirrel skittered ahead, peered in a room and flicked its tail. Hodie darted up and stopped in the doorway.

Sibilla lay on a big chair tilted back like a bed, her hands on the arms of the chair, and her hair a frizzy cloud. She wore pink-and-white striped pyjamas, and a pink hospital dressing gown. She still had her pendant, but her feet were bare. On her lap was a pile of magazines. Dozens of others lay scattered on the floor. Every open page showed a picture of the Emperor.

She looked up and saw Hodie. For a moment hope flashed across her eyes, then she looked horrified. “What are you doing? Please, leave the city.” Her voice cracked. Her arms didn't move, but her fingers trembled. She half sat up, and another magazine slid
splat
to hit the floor.

Hodie kept an ear cocked in the direction of the staffroom. “If Prowdd'on can wangle promises into lies, you shouldn't have to keep any promise to him. He isn't going to let us go! We have to escape.” He beckoned Murgott hard, then hissed at Sibilla. “Come on! You're brave, but this is stupid.”

“Mind your manners to Her Majesty,” growled Murgott in Hodie's ear. “Your Majesty, hurry.”

A tear rolled down her cheek, but still only her fingers moved.

“We're risking our lives for you. This is the only chance. I've sent the bird out, but …” Hodie rested a hand over the satchel beneath his cloak. “I have something else, in here. You know what it is. The drawstring bag that Prow'ddon's after.”

The little Queen's face changed at once. “With The Ties,” she whispered. “The Ties.”

Murgott gasped. “You've stolen them back? Good lad!”

“If you won't come,” Hodie hissed to the Queen, “Prowdd'on might get hold of them.”

“Hodie, I'm strapped to the chair!”

He dashed to her side. “You should have said at once you couldn't move!”

“I would expect a clever boy to notice.” Her voice cracked again.

Hodie wrestled at the buckles around her wrists, but Murgott strode in, opened his pocket-knife, slipped it under the straps, and simply slashed them.

~