by Brian Smith
5
Anthony and Edward were treated like heroes at the royal court. Suddenly everyone knew their names and wherever they went they were greeted with respect. To celebrate the saving of her son Queen Godhild decided to hold a feast.
Queen Godhild
The date of the feast was set three days later. The whole court was invited including leading members of the townsfolk. As a special reward Edward and Anthony were to sit at the royal table.
When Tancred heard of all this he was ecstatic.
“Excellent,” he said at their next meeting. “You’ve done very well and Lord Rochefort will be very pleased with you. Continue your good work and you’ll be rewarded most handsomely. Now here’s what I want you to do next…”
The children listened to his instructions carefully. Before they left Tancred gave Edward a small phial containing a yellow liquid.
“You know what to do,” Tancred said. “Obey and be rewarded, fail and die!”
Tancred waited until the children were out of sight, then he wrote an urgent message to Lord Rochefort.
“This is better than we could have ever hoped for,” he said with an evil smile.
The children walked away from their meeting with Tancred with a feeling of murder in their hearts. Mechanically their feet carried them along the road back towards the castle. Suddenly Geetu stopped dead in her tracks with tears in her eyes.
“There’s a little park here, let’s go and talk,” she said.
They found a quiet place under a shady tree and sat down.
“This is just horrible!” Edward said and looked at the phial in his hand.
“It’s monstrous,” Anthony said.
“We can’t do it,” Geetu said. “We mustn’t do it. What kind of people would we be if we did it?”
“If we don’t do it we’ll be killed,” Edward said sadly.
The three children looked at the ground. There seemed to be no way out. They were in a desperate situation. Tancred’s order was impossible to obey and yet, if they didn’t they would surely die. The only other way out was to free a thousand slaves, but so far they hadn’t seen even a single slave never mind a thousand.
They stared at the dry brown earth under their feet. Here and there a little green plant managed to grow under the shade of the tree. Suddenly Anthony remembered something.
“Edward,” he said. “You once told me there’s always another way.”
“What other way?” Edward said. “Either we obey Tancred or we die.”
Geetu shook her head. The king and queen have been kind to us. They’re holding a feast to say thank you for saving their son. How can we even think about obeying Tancred? He wants us to pour the poison in the phial into the drinks of the king, the queen and their son. We’d be murderers.”
“I know,” said Edward. “I just don’t want to die here.”
Anthony looked angry. “I will tell the king,” he said.
Geetu and Edward looked shocked.
“What?” Edward said. “Tell the king we’re here as spies for Lord Rochefort? So what do you think the king will do to us then?”
“I don’t know,” Anthony said close to tears. “But the queen said she was so grateful to us for saving her son. Let’s just ask her and the king for help.”
Geetu nodded. “You’re right, Anthony. Honesty is always the best policy. Why didn’t we think of it before!”
Edward gave his brother a hug.
“Oh Anthony,” he said, “thank you so much! Whatever the king and queen decide this is a much better choice!”
When the three children asked Prince Horn to help them get a private audience with the king and queen and refused to say why he was much surprised, but he decided to trust them and did what they asked of him.
When King Murry and Queen Godhild received the children in a private audience, Anthony quickly knelt in front of them and told them the whole story from when they were captured by Lord Rochefort’s men up until their last meeting with Tancred.
The king and queen listened in shock.
“Tancred is a bad man,” Anthony said. “He wants to kill us if we don’t do everything he wants, so we didn’t know what to do. Please help us!”
The children looked pleadingly at the king and queen. They knew they had worked as spies in the royal court, they had become involved in a plot to murder the royal family, and now their very lives were in the hands of the king and queen. The only thing that kept their hope alive were the words Anthony had repeated, “Honesty is always the best policy…”
King Murry looked at the children. He looked serious. That Lord Rochefort had evil designs on his kingdom was well known to him, but that Rochefort had managed to infiltrate his palace with spies who had even come close to murdering his entire family with poison was not just shocking, it was a devastating blow.
There was a deep frown on King Murry’s face.
“Please help us,” Anthony repeated. “We just didn’t know what to do.”
Geetu quickly knelt down and said “Anthony told us that honesty was always the best policy. We beg for your mercy.”
Queen Godhild put her hand on King Murry’s arm. “They did come to us for help, dear, and they’re only children.” She squeezed his arm tightly. “Now what do you say?”
King Murry stirred as if suddenly awakened. He looked at his wife.
“Quite right, my dear.”
“Come to me, my lad,” he said looking at Anthony.
Anthony stood up and walked to the king who sat him on his lap.
“Now tell me all about it,” King Murry said, “and have no fear. If honesty is the best policy then honesty shall have its reward.”
When Anthony had finished telling King Murry every little detail of what had happened to them the king smiled grimly and said “Then we must not disappoint Tancred.”
The day of the great feast had come. Everyone was clad in their best clothes. In the great hall of the castle stood long tables heavily laden with food and drink. It was a happy and joyful occasion with musicians, jesters and other performers providing entertainment while all the guest ate, drank, talked and laughed.
Edward, Anthony and Geetu were seated at one table with the royal family.
Prince Horn smiled at them. “Relax and be merry,” he said. “Trust my father, the king. This time tomorrow all troubles will have passed.”
King Murry had not told them about his intentions and several questions weighed heavily on the minds of our heroes. What was the King going to do about Tancred? Would Tancred still be able to harm them when he discovered that the royal family had not been poisoned? And what was Lord Rochefort going to do? But there was nothing they could do. Even Prince Horn had refused to answer their questions with a friendly smile and so the three children surrendered to the inevitable and simply enjoyed the festivities.
A great rejoicing
And yet all was not well, or was it? The feast had not progressed more than half through the evening when the king suddenly announced that he was feeling unwell. King Murry, Queen Godhild and Prince Horn then suddenly left the feast and retired to their private chambers. The three children were left alone at the royal table looking worried. What was going on? Not long after the castle steward entered the hall and banged his staff thrice on the floor.
“Hark unto me!” he called out.
The hall fell silent and all eyes turned to him.
“The feast is over!” the castle steward announced without giving a reason.
First there was a moment of shocked silence, then everyone talked at once. There could only be one explanation. If the royal family had all left the feast early and then sent word to cancel it something serious must have happened to them.
The guests rose from the tables and began to leave the hall. The three children went back to their room where two soldiers stood guard to ensure nothing happened to them.
Everyone looked serious, everyone apart from one person. One of the maids left her dut
y. Instead of cleaning up after the guests she hurried out of the hall towards the castle gate which led into town. To her own surprise the gate was wide open even though it was normally closed at sunset, but she didn’t worry about this thinking it was because of the festivities. She hurried through the dark streets. Sometimes she stopped in a doorway to look back. Satisfied that nobody was following her she went on until she came to the house Tancred was staying at. She told him what had happened.
Tancred permitted himself a smile. He almost never smiled but this was one occasion where he made an exception. He was confident that the children had carried out his orders and that the royal family were dead. He gave the woman some coins as a reward and sent her away.
Tancred hurried into the house and took out a basket that he had kept carefully hidden. He opened it and took out a pigeon. To one of its legs a small capsule was attached which contained a message he had already written. Tancred carried the pigeon to a window and looked out. Everything was quiet and nobody could be seen. Satisfied that he was safe Tancred released the bird which flew up into the air and then in the direction of Lord Rochefort’s lands.
