The Twins of Tintarfell

by James O'Loghlin

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘Too risky.’

  Bart kicked the grass.

  Dani turned to Edward. ‘Sorry. Bart will help you get used to the horse. You’ll be fine.’

  ‘I will be fine,’ said the Prince slowly, ‘because I’ll be here. Bart’s riding her.’

  ‘I said “no”,’ said Dani firmly. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘I’m the Prince,’ said Edward, making it sound like a threat. He looked at Bart. ‘I order you to put on my hat and cloak and ride the horse around the inside of the castle walls.’

  Bart looked uncertainly at Dani.

  ‘Bart and I are required to take orders from Miss Bertha or the King,’ she said. ‘Not you.’

  The Prince’s cheeks reddened. ‘I’m going to be King one day,’ he snapped back at her. ‘Maybe soon. I’ll remember if you help me. And if you don’t. Tell him to do it!’

  Dani wished there was a way out that wouldn’t make an enemy of the Prince, but if there was, she couldn’t think what it was. ‘No.’

  ‘Do it or . . .’ Edward began. He looked around. His eyes fixed on Midnight and a nasty smile came to his lips. He drew his sword. ‘. . . or I’ll cut the horse’s leg.’

  ‘No!’ cried Bart.

  ‘Yes,’ continued the Prince. ‘If you won’t ride her, I’ll cut her leg and tell my father there was an accident. Then I won’t have to ride her.’

  ‘Your father would just get you another horse,’ said Dani.

  ‘Yes, but not one as big and crazy as this one,’ said Edward. ‘And not today. I don’t want to ride it, and I’m not going to.’

  Bart looked on the verge of tears. ‘Please, D,’ he begged. ‘Don’t let Edward hurt her. I’ll be careful, I promise.’

  ‘In fact,’ added Edward, sword poised. ‘I’ve got a better idea. I won’t say Midnight had an accident. I’ll say that you two cut her leg.’

  That, Dani knew, would be very bad. The Prince would definitely be believed over two servants and she and Bart might end up in the dungeons. But was Edward bluffing? She guessed that he was mean enough and desperate enough to do what he had threatened. They were trapped. Bart would have to ride.

  ‘You promise that if anything happens to Bart, you’ll take the blame?’ said Dani. ‘You’ll say you made him do it?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Edward innocently. ‘You can trust me.’

  Chapter 3

  An Interrupted Ride

  Prince Edward unfastened his cloak and handed it, and his hat, to Bart. He looked sourly at Bart’s shabby old boots, and then pulled his gleaming leather ones off.

  A few moments later, Bart hoisted himself up onto Midnight. He had watched so many horse-riders, and had wanted to ride for so long, that he thought he would know exactly how to do it. However, it was unsettling to be so high.

  ‘You all right?’ asked Dani.

  ‘Of course. Yep. Sort of,’ said Bart, trying to gather himself. ‘Good girl,’ he whispered to Midnight, patting her neck. He nudged the horse’s sides gently with his heels, like he had seen other riders do. Midnight walked forward. Bart pulled the reins left and the horse veered that way.

  He quickly got the hang of it, and began to feel more comfortable. After a few minutes, he felt safe enough to urge Midnight into a trot. They did a circle and then returned to the others. ‘I’m ready.’

  Dani looked him up and down and forced herself to speak calmly. ‘Don’t stop, and keep the hat pulled down over your eyes. If you do that, no one will know you’re not Edward. If you fall off, jump straight back on and ride off, even if you’re hurt.’

  ‘Just ride right around the inside of the wall until you get back here,’ said the Prince. ‘When you get to the castle gardens my father will be able to see you out his bedroom window, but he’s three storeys up and a long way away. He won’t expect you to wave or anything. He just wants to see me ride past.’

  Bart could see Dani was worried, but he couldn’t help but feel excited. He’d only been on the horse a few minutes, but already he felt in control. Everything was going to be fine.

  As Dani watched the back of Bart and the bottom of Midnight get further away, she realised that Bart had a great chance to escape. Yes, there were guards at the castle gates, but if Bart put his head down and rode through, they would think he was the Prince and let him through.

  But she knew he wouldn’t try. He would never leave her, just as she would never leave him. They were all the family either of them had. Whatever happened, they would stay together.

  As he rode, Bart’s excitement grew. He was finally riding a horse! With the castle wall on his right, he trotted Midnight along the dirt path that ran inside it, past the servants’ quarters where he spent his nights, and then the kitchen where he spent his days.

  He approached the main courtyard, where the castle wall was broken by two huge wooden gates watched over by guards. Soldiers, knights, servants and merchants hurried across the courtyard in various directions. This was the most crowded part of the circuit, where he would be in the most danger of being recognised. Should he go around the courtyard or through it? Usually Dani would decide, but she wasn’t here. He should have asked her before he left. It felt strange to be without her.

  Midnight made the decision for him and trotted towards the middle of the courtyard. Bart was ready to pull the reins left or right to dodge anyone in his way, but people quickly moved back, clearing a path for him. He realised that they thought he was the Prince. He reached the far side and exhaled in relief.

  The path continued along the wall. To his left a grassy bank sloped up to the bottom of the castle. It was the perfect gradient to roll down, something he and Dani had done many times. Soon he emerged into an expanse of beautifully groomed gardens. Bart looked around in wonder. There were hedges trimmed to look like elephants, lions, giraffes, cats and even a giant strawberry. Between the hedges were flowerbeds, walking paths and ornate benches. A bubbling stream ran through the gardens and disappeared under the wall. These were the King’s Gardens, maintained for the exclusive use of the royal family, but Bart knew that they were hardly used. Even before he became sick, the King hardly ever had time to walk in them. His wife had enjoyed the gardens, but she had fallen ill and died seven years previously. As for Prince Edward, everyone knew he preferred to stay inside and draw. The only person who used the gardens regularly was Edward’s younger brother, Vincent, who would run amok, chasing the gardeners with his sword and attacking the hedge animals. Bart saw that the hedge lion had a large dent in its head, the hedge giraffe was missing a leg and the hedge strawberry had what looked like a large bite out of it.

  Bart thought the gardens were the most beautiful place he had ever seen although, having never left the castle grounds, he didn’t have much to compare them to. To his left was the square, grey, four-storey stone castle. Windows faced the gardens and he remembered that through one of them the King would be looking. Bart pulled his hat down and trotted Midnight forward, looking away as he passed close to a gardener clipping what looked to be a hedge pineapple.

  He was now about two-thirds of the way around the inside of the castle wall. At the end of the gardens was another large stone building, the armoury, in which swords, maces, lances, armour and other weapons were kept.

  There was a narrow space between the back of the armoury and the castle wall, and that is where the path led. Midnight tried to turn away, but Bart urged her forward. They passed into a shadowed alley between the armoury and the wall. Ahead, he could see the path open out into sunshine again, and from there it would just be a short trot back to the grassy bank behind the stable.

  Bart now felt more comfortable. He knew that riding was supposed to be all about pulling the reins, gripping with your knees and tapping with your heels, but it seemed that all he had to do was to think about the way that he wanted to go, and Midnight would head that way. In some strang
e way that he didn’t understand, he felt connected to Midnight, just as he had often felt a connection to mice, birds and spiders. Somehow, it just felt right. He wished he could stay on the horse and ride her out the castle gates to freedom.

  Suddenly, he had an idea. They could escape! He could return to the stable, get Dani up behind him and then gallop through the gates. Midnight was big and strong, and Bart was dressed as the Prince. They would never have a better chance.

  As he came around the corner of the armoury and re-emerged into the sunshine, Bart was filled with excitement. To his left he noticed a hay-filled cart and beside him he sensed a shape. Before he could register what it was, something hit him hard on the head and knocked him off the horse.

  He hit the ground with a thud. In a daze, he tried to pull himself up, but his body wouldn’t obey. What had happened? Something was coming towards him, but Bart’s eyes were closing and he couldn’t seem to stop them.

  ‘Good shot,’ said a female voice. ‘Grab his ankles.’

  Bart could feel his awareness of the world slipping away. He had to leave a sign for Dani. Whatever was going on, Dani would make sure he was all right. She always did. With a huge effort, he slid his hand into his pocket, pulled out his handkerchief and laid it on the ground. Then he passed out.

  Chapter 4

  A Rising Panic

  While she awaited Bart’s return, Dani practised throwing rocks with her sling, a piece of cloth as long as her arm and as wide as her wrist. She placed a rock in the middle of it, folded the ends together, whirled it fast around her head, aimed and then let one end go. The rock flew towards a tree about twenty paces away and hit a branch. Dani grunted in satisfaction and loaded another stone.

  After a while, Dani began to wonder when Bart would return. More time passed and she started to worry and cast hopeful looks towards the slight rise over which she expected him to appear.

  ‘Something’s happened,’ she said eventually.

  ‘I’m sure he’s fine,’ replied the Prince, who was sitting under a tree.

  ‘He’s been too long. We’d better look for him.’ She no longer cared about being nice to the Prince. Bart might be in danger. ‘You go around the wall the way he went and I’ll go the other way. If you find him first, come and find me.’

  The Prince raised his eyebrows and looked like he was about to argue, but Dani turned and hurried away. After a dozen steps she glanced back and saw that he was trudging towards the castle gates.

  Dani ran up the rise, heading in the direction Bart should be coming from. At the top, on her right, was the stable. To her left, the castle wall continued until it disappeared behind the armoury.

  She ran down to the armoury and followed the path between it and the wall until she emerged into the King’s Gardens. There she stopped. Like all servants, she was forbidden to enter the gardens. A gardener clipped a hedge nearby. Maybe she could ask him if he’d seen the Prince on a horse, but if she did he’d ask her why she wanted to know, and that could get complicated.

  She had an idea. She studied the dirt path, looking for horse tracks. There! Of course, they might not be Midnight’s, but they did look recent, and she hadn’t seen any other horses on her way. If they were Midnight’s, then it meant that Bart had got at least this far. Dani retraced her steps and followed the hoofprints until she emerged back around the stable side of the armoury.

  There the prints seemed to get messy and there were other footprints. Something purple peeked out from a bush that ran along the armoury wall. She picked it up. It was Bart’s handkerchief! He only had one and he always kept it with him.

  What had happened?

  She looked around. The hoofprints continued past the handkerchief, and then veered off the path onto the grass and uphill towards the stable. Next to them was what looked like a set of bootprints. Had Bart dismounted, lost his handkerchief, and then led Midnight to the stable?

  Dani followed the prints up the rise. When she reached the top, she walked around the corner of the stable and saw Midnight tied by his reins to a railing. She felt a wave of relief. Bart must have tied her up and then returned to meet them.

  But then why hadn’t she seen him on the way?

  She ran around the stable to the grassy bank where they had been, but there was no sign of Bart. Her heart hammered as she rushed back to Midnight and looked him over. The horse appeared to be in the same condition as before Bart had ridden off. No clues there. She peeked around the stable doors. Aside from two grooms shovelling horse poo out of the stalls, it was empty.

  Dani had gone beyond worried to scared. Her twin brother was the most important thing in her life. The thought of anything happening to him terrified her.

  She ran back to where she had found Bart’s handkerchief. Why had he dismounted here? Had someone recognised him and ordered him to? She stared at the ground. Two sets of bootprints moved from where she had found the handkerchief along another, wider, dirt track that led to the castle gates. Oddly, both sets of prints moved along the path sideways, as if two people had shuffled along facing each other.

  Dani followed the tracks. After about ten steps one set of prints vanished, while the other turned to face down the track, continued and after a few more steps also vanished. At the point where the first set of bootprints disappeared two thin lines began, extending along the track towards the castle gate. She stared at them, thinking.

  ‘Wheels!’ she exclaimed to no one except a nearby caterpillar. ‘Wagon tracks!’ One of the people making the bootprints must have got into the back of a wagon, while the other had walked to the driver’s seat, climbed up and driven the wagon away.

  Dani walked a few more steps. Yes! A horse’s prints led down the track. She looked at the bootprints again, then slid her own foot next to one, and then the other.

  Both sets of prints were a lot bigger than hers, which meant that they were too big to be Bart’s. She raced back over to the prints that accompanied Midnight’s tracks over to the stable. They were also too big to be Bart’s. Dani paced up and down. Where were Bart’s prints? Who else had been here, and why did the two sets of bootprints face each other as they moved towards the wagon?

  Suddenly she had it. What if two people were carrying something heavy?

  Like a person.

  Like Bart.

  If one had been holding Bart’s legs and the other his arms, then they would have been facing each other. Maybe they picked Bart up, shuffled down the track and loaded him into the back of the wagon, before getting in themselves and driving away. It was the only thing Dani could think of that fitted.

  Had Bart fallen off Midnight? If so, perhaps two people on a nearby wagon had found him, loaded him in and taken him to the doctor. But then, why would they waste time walking Midnight over to the stable? Why not just tie her to a nearby tree?

  And what about Bart’s handkerchief? Bart could do handstands, cartwheels and backflips but his handkerchief never fell out of his pocket. Could he have deliberately pulled it out? As a sign to her?

  Then it hit her like a hammer. Maybe they – whoever ‘they’ were – had abducted the Prince. Except it wasn’t the Prince. They had assumed the person who was dressed as the Prince and riding the Prince’s horse was the Prince. Maybe they had been looking for an opportunity, saw him riding around the track and guessed he was doing a complete circuit. So they lay in wait behind the armoury, an area usually deserted, knocked him off Midnight, carried him to the wagon, took Midnight back to the stable so he wouldn’t be found near the scene of the crime, and drove off.

  How could they have got Bart off Midnight? Dani looked around. Propped up against the armoury wall was a log that reached to Dani’s waist. Someone standing on it would be in a perfect position to grab Bart, or knock him off the horse as he rode out from behind the building.

  She slowly followed the track the wheels had made, looking for more c
lues. There were a few pieces of hay on either side. That made sense. If the wagon was full of hay, it would be easy to hide someone under it.

  So, if Bart was in a wagon, where was the wagon? If they had been trying to kidnap the Prince, then surely they would want to get out of the castle and far away as quickly as possible. Dani started to run towards the castle gates.

  After a few steps, a terrible thought filled her mind. If her theory was correct, what would the kidnappers do when they discovered that the person they had kidnapped was not the Prince, but a servant? Give him a hot chocolate and set him free? Dani doubted it. Would they kill him?

  She sprinted along the track until she reached the main courtyard. On its far side were the castle gates that led out to the world she’d never seen. She ran towards them and reached a burly, bearded guard.

  ‘Have you seen a wagon?’ she panted.

  ‘I see lots of wagons,’ he responded wearily. ‘Looking at wagons is quite a big part of my job, actually.’

  ‘Just now. A few minutes ago.’

  ‘Wagons come, wagons go. All day long. It’s very boring.’

  ‘Please. It was probably full of hay. Did it go out?’

  The guard sighed. ‘I dunno. Maybe. Probably. So what?’

  ‘I have to go out,’ she said, starting to move forward.

  ‘Whoa there, missy,’ said the guard, grabbing her shoulder. ‘You’re not going nowhere. It’s not allowed. You know that.’

  ‘But my brother . . .’ Part of Dani wanted to let all her fears and frustrations out and scream and shout that he had to let her through. But another part knew it wouldn’t help because she was just a servant and no one cared about her or Bart. Even if she explained her theory to the guard, he wouldn’t let her pass. He’d just get his commander and she’d have to explain it to him, and then he’d get his commander, and she’d have to explain it again and meanwhile Bart might be getting further and further away.