The Winter Knights (40 page)

Authors: Paul Stewart

BOOK: The Winter Knights

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Beside it, sitting upon an upturned barrel, a raw, half-eaten oozefish clutched in his hands, was a knight academic. His armour was dirty, the pipes and dials clogged up with the same white mud. To his left, his heavy helmet lay discarded.

He was staring ahead, unblinking, at the Twilight Woods as he rocked slowly back and forwards, back and forwards. There – as the sun set and the sky about him darkened – the perpetual orange glow of twilight lit the flocks of fluffy clouds which gather above it.

‘Lost,’ he murmured, his voice cracked and gruff from lack of use. ‘All is lost.’

And as he stared, so four figures emerged, their scrawny frames silhouetted against the glowing light.

He scrambled to his feet and stumbled across the Mire towards them. As he drew closer, he saw that they were a small family of gnokgoblins, stragglers who had braved the perils of the Twilight Woods in their attempt to travel from their Deepwoods home to a new beginning in Undertown.

Seeing the tall, noble-looking knight heading towards them, the party of goblins beckoned to him.

‘Please, sir,’ said the eldest – a wizened old'un – as they approached. ‘We need help.’

‘Help,’ the knight murmured.

‘We need shelter for the night,’ the gnokgoblin matron explained. ‘And a guide to help us across this wasteland …’

‘Shelter,’ the knight repeated. ‘Guide.’

It was almost as though he hadn't noticed the gnok-goblin, for he wasn't looking at her as he spoke. Instead, he seemed transfixed by the tiny glittering particles which sparkled amongst the mud trapped both in the coarse tufts of hair between her toes and under her nails.

As his eyes stared down at the gnokgoblin's feet, a strange expression crossed his troubled face – as if he was struggling with a problem and slowly making up his mind.

‘All is not lost,’ he said at last, a hand lightly touching the handle of the knife at his side. ‘Follow me.’

A DAVID FICKLING BOOK

Published by David Fickling Books
an imprint of Random House Children's Books
a division of Random House, Inc.
New York

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the
product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Originally published in Great Britain by Doubleday, an imprint of Random
House Children's Books, in 2005.

DAVID FICKLING BOOKS and colophon are trademarks of David Fickling.

www.randomhouse.com/kids

Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
www.randomhouse.com/teachers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stewart, Paul.

The Winter Knights / Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell.—1st ed.

p. cm.—(The edge chronicles; 8)

SUMMARY: Quint finally begins his training at the Knights Academy, Maris
adjusts to life in Undertown, and Sanctaphrax shivers in anticipation of a
legendary storm, while a storm of a different kind brews between sky-scholars
and earth-scholars.

eISBN: 978-0-307-49502-0

[1. Fantasy] I. Riddell, Chris. II. Title. III. Series: Stewart, Paul.
Edge chronicles; 8.

PZ7.S84975Win 2007

[Fic]—dc22

2006012404

v3.0

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