Princess Juniper of Torr

by Ammi-Joan Paquette

  “Now we’re in,” said Jess. “Let’s go breach the palace.”

  They’d entered behind the stables, and they would need to circle the building entirely to reach their destination. Just inside those walls, Juniper knew, was her beloved mare, Butternut. Soon, she told herself. One thing at a time.

  “Follow me,” said Juniper in a low voice. “And let’s keep as close to the walls as we can. We don’t want to be out in the open where stray shadows might leap out and betray our presence.”

  “To who?” whispered Tippy.

  “Anyone at all,” said Leena decisively. “Better safe than baked in a pie, Cook always said.”

  Tippy’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “That doesn’t really make any—”

  “Come on,” said Jess. “Stuff your talk and keep up.”

  Across the grounds, nothing moved—not a flicker of wind nor a breath of air. Even the horses in the stable seemed to be sound asleep, to judge from the low hum coming from inside those walls. For her part, Juniper felt weirdly dreamlike. Was it really just a month since she’d said good-bye to these grounds, since she’d left with bulging carts and flowing hair and wild hopes for the future?

  Since she’d last seen her father?

  Her heartbeat quickened. Where were they keeping him?

  Some part of her ached to run, to shout, to throw herself madcap at the enemy until they tossed him back out to her, safe and sound and unharmed.

  Of course, life didn’t work anything like that.

  So she kept her hands flat against the mortared stones. She kept looking at each patch of ground before she set down her foot, checking for stray twigs or branches that might sound an alert.

  But inside, she was ready. Oh, she was ready.

  6

  THEY MADE THEIR WAY LIKE THIS, PAST THE stables and the exercise yard, to the edges of the back garden leading to the orchards. At this point, they left the wall behind and cut through the trees, following the decorative marble-stone path. Follow this trail to its end, Juniper knew, and they would reach the soldiers’ barracks—probably jammed now with snoring, snuffling enemy troops. And plenty of wide-awake ones, like as not. Juniper forced herself to go even slower, to make her steps more careful and deliberate. They couldn’t afford a single wrong move. In the silence, every breath was a hurricane, the lightest footfall a shout.

  They were moving in a loose pack now: Juniper leading the way, Jess alongside her, and Erick, Leena, and Oona just behind. And Tippy? Where had she gotten to?

  Oh! There she was now, on the opposite side of the path, making a beeline for the narrow edging wall.

  Tippy, who had never met a balancing surface she wouldn’t befriend.

  Juniper dashed for Tippy. She couldn’t call out, not without making a bigger ruckus. But it was too late. Tippy reached the ledge and leaped up in one nimble bound. She threw her hands out to each side, and paraded along it for a good ten steps before windmilling her arms and toppling catastrophically off. The drop was less than knee-high, but that wasn’t the problem. Juniper reached the wall just in time to land under Tippy. The two of them came down hard on the gravel path.

  The crunch of clattering stones cracked the quiet like a gunshot.

  There was a beat of silence. The six hung frozen in space.

  Then, behind them, a horse in the stable whinnied. Loud. A little farther out, a hound barked.

  Juniper shoved Tippy off her lap and leaped to her feet. “That’s it for stealth,” she said. “Let’s get where we’re going, and fast.”

  “Through here,” said Leena, and ducked into the trees. “It’s a smidge longer, but it gets us off the path.”

  They took off at a dead run: bushes grasping for them, branches clawing at their faces, innocent-looking flowers snapping hungrily at their ankles. When had the palace grounds gotten so wild? Finally they reached the end of the orchard and stood panting and peering out from the last row of trees at their destination. Just past the waist-high decorative hedge was a wide courtyard. From this, majestic as a whale cresting in the ocean, rose the palace.

  It was the butt end of the palace, of course—the kitchens and workshops and sculleries and laundries. But the sight was no less beautiful to Juniper’s eyes. Still, the very best thing about the view in front of them was this: darkness across every window, not a peep nor mutter from the building ahead of them. And below it, deep underground, were acres and acres of cellars.

  Also known as? The way in.

  • • •

  “Let’s play it safe,” Juniper said. “We’ll go one at a time: Clear the hedge, cross the yard, down the stairs. Everybody got it?”

  The nods were tight, and Leena clung to Tippy’s hand, making them an exception to the one-at-a-time rule. Jess led out first, darting so noiselessly in her dark cloak and silent shoulder-cat that Juniper couldn’t help a smile of admiration. Jess’s father was a fool not to see her value as a spy partner. The girl had clearly learned her desired trade well.

  Their destination was a recessed hollow just beyond the back door to the darkened summer kitchen. Jess reached the spot and seemed to sink right into the ground. Erick followed next, then Oona, then Leena and Tippy. Juniper went last, looking first behind her to be sure they had not been spotted or followed.

  The orchard was still as mirrored glass.

  Juniper reached the recess panting slightly from her run—she was no master spy, that was for sure!—and joined the others at the bottom of the stone steps. The landing was sunk so low that their heads were below ground level. Excellent! The steps ended at a rough-looking wooden door, which Jess pushed open.

  “Good Egg delivers,” Jess whispered. “Told you so.”

  It crossed Juniper’s mind that Jess sounded less pleased by this than Juniper would have expected. But then they slipped out of the dark night into the darker passageway, and all other thoughts fell away. Erick pushed the door shut and latched it behind them. Leena retrieved a torch and a striking stone from a wall sconce.

  “Can we risk that light?” Jess asked.

  “We can’t see a lick without it,” Leena retorted. “But I know these passages well from my kitchen days. The deep cellars are rarely used even by day—it’s all specialty rooms this far out. Late at night like now, there’s no one about at all.”

  The firelight flared, which put Juniper to blinking and seeing stars for a good few moments till her vision cleared. Slowly, the passageway took shape around her: narrow and ill-kept, with a packed dirt floor and stone walls dank and stained with moss.

  “Is this the dungeon?” Tippy asked, a quaver in her voice.

  “No, you goose,” said Leena. “Only the food cellars. It gets better looking the farther in you go.”

  “Oh,” said Tippy, clearly underwhelmed.

  But Juniper thought it gloriously quaint. “What a place this is!” she breathed. She knew all about the deep cellars, of course—it had been her idea, after all, for Eglantine to unlock this door in particular—but the reality was quite outside her expectations. Knowing about these rooms was quite different from walking through them in real and true life.

  “Look past the surface and it’s a cave of wonders, that’s what,” said Leena, with some pride. “Only wait till you poke your peepers into some of these rooms. Take this up ahead—one of my favorites. Can you guess?” She nudged Tippy.

  Tired though she was, Juniper was curious, too, and now that they were inside the palace, she felt a good deal less anxious. They had a few minutes to explore. She joined the others at the door Leena indicated.

  A sharp, moldy smell rose to her nostrils.

  “Ewwww!” Tippy whisper-shrieked.

  “That’s the cheese cave,” said Leena proudly. “’Twas my favorite place to work, once upon a day.” She waved her torch around to show the tiered wooden shelves topped with large yellow rinds and sma
ll mounds wrapped in twine and cheesecloth and thin greenwood strips.

  Juniper’s stomach growled. Up till now she hadn’t really considered cheese beyond its tasteful arrangement on a lunch platter, or the gooey ooze between two crisp slices of toast. But this was astonishing! How had it all existed, deep underground, without her ever knowing about it? Then again, she hadn’t had much spare time for adventure, back in the day.

  As Leena stepped back toward the door, a low rumble echoed through the room. Oona clapped a hand to her belly, looking mortified.

  Juniper smiled. “I couldn’t agree more. Perhaps we should take a few rounds with us, Leena? We shall need dinner, after all, and I believe we left all our provisions with Root and the horses.”

  Leena looked unsure, but Juniper was too cheese-happy to care. Making her way down the nearest row, she selected two small wedges that were tucked behind a teetering stack.

  After that, they moved more quickly along the corridor. Leena kept up the guided tour but without leading them into any more of the rooms. They passed the mushroom cellar with its musty, earthen tang; the wine cellar, which was barred with a lock the size of Juniper’s fist; the cannery, with shelves crowded with jam jars and huge cauldrons waiting above dark fire pits; and the coldroom, which was lined inside with big blocks of ice and hung with preserved and smoked fish and legs of meat. Juniper thought how nicely a strip of smoked underbelly would go with their cheese dinner. But she managed to resist the temptation.

  “We’re headed somewhere in particular, are we?” Jess asked at last.

  “We need somewhere safe to stow away tonight,” said Juniper. “Tomorrow, we’ll talk about next steps and how we’ll manage to find Egg amongst all these halls and spaces.”

  “Didn’t we fly her out a message?” asked Erick.

  “Sure, and she left us that door open so we could get in. But the palace is a big place for finding one girl, once you’re inside.”

  “Egg will be the one to find us, or I’m no Ceward,” said Jess. Again, Juniper noticed an odd sour note to her voice.

  “I know just where we can stay,” said Leena. She pointed up ahead at a small, nondescript door. “The mudroom—I can’t remember the last time this space was used for anything at all. We’ll be safe as walls here for the night.” She pushed open the door, which swung on its hinges with only a faint creak. One by one they passed through, and Leena shut the door behind them.

  Without further delay, Juniper unwrapped the cheeses and broke them into chunks, passing those around, then gobbling down her portion in joyfully creamy mouthfuls. It didn’t go far to quenching her hunger, but it would do. For now.

  Once the food was gone, the others began dropping down helter-skelter into sleeping spots along the floor. Only Jess took her time, carefully settling Fleeter on her folded cloak, then pulling several jars and bottles out of her skirt and setting about her evening toilette. Juniper herself couldn’t get horizontal fast enough: She was tired down to the hollow of her bones. The packed-earth floor was not in the least bit inviting (thankfully, not mud; what was the room’s name about?). But Juniper’s bedding expectations had changed greatly since the Basin. After her long day on horseback, and that mad dash through the grounds, she thought even a bed of nails would have looked inviting.

  She bunched up her cloak and made herself as comfortable as she could in her spot on the floor. “We’ve made it this far,” she said as waves of sleep lapped the edges of her mind. “We’re inside the walls.”

  7

  AS JESS HAD PROMISED, FINDING HER SISTER turned out to be as easy as opening their eyes the next morning.

  Juniper awoke slowly, taking in the yellow sun filtering through the narrow sliver of window. They’d slept longer than she’d intended. Then she realized that a noise had awoken her, and she sat bolt upright.

  A girl stood just inside the door, surveying the room and its occupants with an air of quiet interest. Juniper immediately saw the newcomer’s resemblance to Jess. So this was the mysterious Eglantine—or Egg, as Jess called her. She was fine-boned and small enough that she probably came only up to Juniper’s shoulder. Yet Egg was at least a year older than Jess. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a tight braid that hung down her back, and her gown with its long, bell-shaped sleeves was the sort of nondescript color that you forget a moment after seeing it. No wonder the invaders had underestimated her! She looked like she couldn’t win a butterfight with a squirrel.

  Despite her size, though, Egg had a triple dose of presence: Without even moving a muscle, she looked quietly confident and in full command over the situation. Her eyes were bright and intelligent and, right now, locked unblinkingly on Juniper.

  Suddenly remembering that she was in disguise, Juniper scrambled to her feet. “Hullo—Egg, right? I’m Juniper. Princess Juniper—Oh.” Of course, Egg was deaf; she couldn’t hear a word Juniper was saying. Juniper trailed off, looking over at Jess’s still-sleeping form and wishing she were close enough to give the other girl a surreptitious wake-up kick.

  Instead, Egg smiled. “I can read your lips,” she said, in a clear, careful voice. Her vowels were rounded and her speech halting, but she was easily understandable.

  Juniper relaxed immediately, but before she could say anything else, Jess rolled over. Opening her eyes, she took in the scene, then leaped up from her makeshift bedcovers. “It’s my Good Egg!” she crowed, then clapped a hand over her mouth as the rest of the kids awoke in a panic.

  “I’m sorry—I’m sorry!” panted Jess, looking horrified at her noisy slip. Meanwhile, Egg looked rather smug.

  Jess switched to sign language, she and Egg apparently catching each other up on all their adventures so far. After a few minutes, Jess turned back toward the rest of them, while keeping her face angled so Egg could still read her lips.

  “So. This is my famous sister, Eglantine, instrumental to getting us back inside these walls.”

  Egg bobbed her head in greeting. The others waved and nodded and mumbled their hellos.

  “As you’ve seen, Egg can read lips exceptionally well. What that means is if you want her to follow what you’re saying, stand where she can see your face. Don’t talk over each other; she can’t be looking in more than one direction at a time. Also, try not to mumble.”

  Egg took in Jess’s words, then spoke to her sister in sign language, bobbing her head toward the group. “I became deaf in my fourth summer,” Jess said, interpreting Egg’s signed speech. “This means that even though I’m deaf, I can speak aloud. When I have to.” Egg nodded briskly, as though necessary housekeeping was out of the way and now they could get down to business. “I’ve got a place set up where you can all stay. Up high and out of the way. I’ve brought some food, too—you must all be hungry.”

  Jess grinned, signing as she spoke her own words out loud. “Good going, Egg. Surely there’s something you didn’t think of!”

  Egg rolled her eyes at the sarcasm, shouldering her taller sister out of the way. Then she nudged her sleeve aside to reveal a patch of coarse, dark fabric strapped to the inside of her arm. Egg fished something out of her pocket—a nub of chalk! She scribbled on the flat of her armband and held it up for them all to see: Backup, the word said.

  Egg resumed her signing while Jess interpreted. “I can also communicate that way if Jess is not around, though it’s slow. Now, we must move before the kitchen gets too busy. I am glad you have come. The danger is mounting, and we have much to do. But first: One of your party is not with you?”

  Juniper met Egg’s gaze, puzzled. “One of our . . . Well, quite a few of us aren’t here now, but—”

  Egg gave her head a crisp shake. Furrowing her brow, she gave Jess a fuller explanation in sign language.

  Jess’s face went pale. “Oh,” she said.

  “What?” asked Juniper. “Who is she talking about?”

  “He’s here. In the
castle.” Jess swallowed. “Cyril Lefarge.”

  It didn’t change anything, not a single thing, Juniper told herself. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t known Cyril would be coming here. Where else would he have gone? With more than a full day’s head start on their travel, of course Cyril would be well settled in by now, bringing his traitorous father up to speed on all the latest developments in Queen’s Basin.

  Still. It galled Juniper—galled her right down to the gut. To think how she’d trusted that wag-feather! They’d been a team. Or, she’d thought they had been.

  But none of that mattered any longer. They’d snuck into the palace early, and they would get the jump on Cyril and his backstabbing ways. They were here, lurking and scheming and ready to take him down.

  We’re coming for you, Cyril, Juniper thought. Just you wait!

  The first step was to get to the hideaway. Egg described it briefly, signing while Jess interpreted. Juniper could have hugged Egg. “You’re talking about the Aerie!” she said.

  The others looked confused, so Juniper explained: “You know our little messenger? Those ghost bats my father breeds, which deliver our letters? He set up a special loft for their living quarters and took on every aspect of their training and care himself. I wondered what would become of them when he was made captive.” She paused while Jess finished signing her words to Egg, who grinned and flashed her own reply.

  “The bats are well,” she said. “I have been taking care of them.”

  Juniper felt something squeeze inside her chest. “Both my father and I are indebted to you, Egg.”

  “All right,” said Jess, though she didn’t stop signing. “It’s just what needed doing, I’m sure. Now, if we’ve had enough speechifying, maybe we can pack ourselves off to this hideaway? Before the kitchen decides on mushroom mash for dinner and we are caught out cold.”

  With no further prompting, the kids scurried around the room, straightening and tidying anything they had touched and removing all trace of their presence. Tippy tried to pick up Fleeter, but Jess refused, insisting he would stay properly quiet only for her. Then, after a last look around to be sure all was in order, Juniper and Egg led the way out into the cellar corridor.