The Vittles Lane merchants pressed gifts on the king until he and his three friends were loaded with jewels, rare fruits, delicious pastries and fine robes. As they reached the harbour, they saw a wonderful sight. A proud ship was gliding in. Brightly-coloured flags fluttered from her yard-arms, and the Royal Banner of Carminel flew proudly at her masthead. As she dropped anchor, trumpets called from her quarterdeck and the captain’s barge was lowered into the water.
A hush fell upon the crowd as Roamer stepped ashore and knelt before the king. ‘We saw your flag flying from the fortress. Welcome home, your Majesty.’
Caladon smiled. ‘And welcome home to you, Captain Roamer! What news do you bring?’
‘Good news and bad, sir. The good news is that the Empress Ravanola is dead, we have the ruby and we rescued Princess Tamina.’
As the crowd yelled with delight, Caladon said: ‘And the bad news?’
‘Lukas is dead. Malatesta is on his way. We sighted his fleet a week ago. With a fair wind, he will be here in a few days. We must prepare for war.’
22. The Sword
That night, Caladon summoned the mice of Aramon to the Great Cathedral to witness the return of the ruby and to pray to the Lord of Light for help against Malatesta.
On the stroke of midnight, Cardinal Matthias unlocked the iron gates and mounted the steps to the high altar, where eleven tall candles were burning. He was carrying one of the treasures of Carminel: the Chalice of the Lord of Light. It was a plain, wooden bowl, found long ago by King Rufus the Great. After placing the chalice on the altar, the Cardinal stood in silent prayer, his eyes fixed on the great star that hung from the roof. After a while, he turned to the vast crowd of mice and cried: ‘King Caladon, bring the ruby! Lord Marengo, bring the sword!’
Marengo and Caladon mounted the steps. Taking the softly-glowing ruby, Matthias placed it once again beneath the glass dome. Marengo drew his magnificent sword, which had once belonged to Gideon, the legendary eagle warrior. His sword was now one of the treasures of Carminel and when Matthias placed it on the high altar, all three treasures, ruby, sword and chalice, were united.
‘Great Lord of Light,’ said the cardinal, ‘Carminel is in peril greater than we have ever known. We ask your help in the struggle to come. Lord of Light, hear us!’
As with one voice, every mouse in the cathedral cried: ‘Lord of Light, hear us!’
In the deep silence that followed, the ruby began to glow. Brighter and brighter it shone until its scarlet light soared to the roof. At the same moment, silver light flowed from the chalice and multi-coloured beams darted from the jewels on the sword’s hilt until the light from the treasures mingled into one dazzling blaze.
And in the midst of the light appeared a great sword. Its blade gleamed like silver and a ruby shone from its hilt. As the mice gazed in wonder, silver light shone through the windows, bathing the mice in its gentle radiance.
‘The Lord of Light’s star,’ whispered Cheesemite, and Rio nodded slowly. ‘Is miracle.’
Still the light poured from the treasures until the great sword was shining with an almost unbearable brilliance. As the cathedral became a dazzle of light, a voice spoke from out of the sword:
‘When the light is eclipsed and the darkness is falling,
Climb to the castle whose towers reach the sky.
Seek for the sword in a garden of roses,
Under the trees where the dead heroes lie.
The humblest of mice shall discover the secret,
Though treason may threaten, a young king shall fight
With the sword, and the Ruby of Power shall defend him,
And eagles shall lead you from darkness to light.’
The light faded, the sword vanished; the chalice and Marengo’s sword ceased to shine. Only the ruby still glowed, its tiny heart beating strongly.
A great sigh arose from the mice. None doubted that they had seen a vision and heard the voice of the Lord of Light himself. Quietly, they rose to their feet, filed out of the cathedral and returned to their homes. At the Great Fortress, Caladon summoned his friends to a special council. Cranberry and Spital stood guard outside the door.
‘Where is this castle whose towers reach the sky?’ asked Caladon. The mice shook their heads. No one knew.
There was a knock on the door and Chowdmouse entered, carrying a large, ancient book. He gave it to the cardinal. ‘Is it the right one?’ he whispered.
‘Thank you, Chowdmouse, it is indeed. I sent him to my house for this,’ said Matthias, as Chowdmouse joined his friends outside the door. ‘It may give us the knowledge we need.’
He blew a cloud of dust from the great book, and carefully turned the age-yellowed pages. ‘Ah, yes, of course. I remember now. Listen to this:
It happened that in the reign of Vygan, first of the Mouse Kings, an army of rats, assisted by certain traitorous mice, fell upon the realm of Carminel.
With fire and sword they ravaged the land, burning the fair city of Aramon to the ground and demanding the king’s surrender. But King Vygan, scorning to yield to such barbarous foes, withdrew with his army to a great castle in the very heart of the kingdom. This castle was built upon a high rock, which so towered above the plain that mice called it the Castle in the Clouds.
Again and again, the rats tried to capture this mighty stronghold. But each time, they were driven back with grievous loss. For in truth, no enemy may take this castle, whose walls rise sheer from the precipice on which they stand and whose towers seem to pierce the sky. At last, seeing his enemies withering away, the king led out his mice against them. He drove them down to the plain, where, in a great battle, King Vygan utterly defeated the army of the rats, so that the few survivors were glad to slip away to their ships and return to their own land. Those traitorous mice who had assisted the enemy, hoping for gain, suffered the terrible death they so richly deserved.
But great was the sorrow among the mice, for in that battle King Vygan took his death wound.
Asked where he wished his body to lie buried, he said: ‘Within the castle is a garden of roses. There will I lie. Take the ruby from my sword and give it to my son, for the Lord of Light himself gave it me, and it will defend the kings of Carminel from their enemies. But place my sword in the tomb with me. It must lie hidden, for there will come a time when a king of Carminel will have need of it. And so it was done.’
Matthias closed the book. For a while, no one spoke. At last, Princess Tamina broke the silence. ‘The voice in the cathedral spoke of dead heroes. Who are they?’
‘For a long time after the death of Vygan,’ said the cardinal, ‘heroes of Carminel were buried in the rose garden. Gideon himself lies there. The castle must have been a ruin for many years, though the walls and towers may still stand.’
‘I see,’ said Tamina. ‘But the voice mentioned the humblest of mice – who can that be?’
‘Who knows?’ said Caladon. ‘But the sooner we find this sword the better. Lord Marengo, six of your warriors should be enough for the task. Princess, how do you fancy a ride on an eagle?’
No one doubted that Malatesta’s fleet would soon attack Aramon, and King Caladon worked hard to organise the city’s defence. The Red Lancers were set free and were only too glad to swear loyalty to the king. They got their rifles back, and spent several hours being drilled by one of Marengo’s mice, a fierce old warrior named Donal.
‘Pick your feet up, you horrible little mice!’ Donal would roar. ‘Call yourselves soldiers? Lord o’ Light, I’ve seen slugs and snails that could march better! Squa-a-a-d, halt! That was terrible, so it was! Pre-sent arms! Too slow! Do it again! Oh, was ever a poor unfortunate captain landed with such a troop as this? But I’ll lick you into shape, so I will!’
And he did. After two days, the Red Lancers were drilling and marching so smartly that Donal took them onto Barrowdown Moor for some serious training. Casey and his beavers helped by felling trees across the narrow streams to make bridges, which Donal would
then teach the mice how to blow up. The crash of explosions echoed across the moor until the city mice thought that the stoats had arrived.
Twice a day, Marengo’s eagles flew patrols, searching for Malatesta’s ships. But they had not flown far when violent thunderstorms and torrential hail drove them back. ‘At least the stoats won’t be able to attack us in this weather,’ said Marengo. ‘And Malatesta may well lose some ships.’
But Roamer was worried. Tamina had told him of Gweir, whom she had heard about during her captivity. Roamer feared that the wizard was causing these storms, though why he should do so was more than Roamer could guess.
On the fifth evening after Tamina had flown off in search of the sword, Roamer was alone on the Great Fortress’s high tower. Far below, Old Ben was organising groups of mice to strengthen the ancient walls; Rio was inspecting and repairing the worn timbers of the city’s gates, while from distant Barrowdown, the thump of an explosion told of another bridge successfully blown up by Donal’s Red Lancers.
Suddenly, eagles appeared, flying in from the north. They landed on the tower, and Roamer ran to greet the princess as she slid from Aquila’s back. But his cheerful welcome died at the look on her face.
‘Prepare yourself for a shock, Roamer. Malatesta’s outsmarted us. He landed his army on the west coast a week ago and marched inland, looting and burning farms and villages. By the time we arrived at the Castle in the Clouds, it was crawling with stoats. Malatesta’s made it his headquarters and nothing short of a miracle will shift him. We’re in big trouble!’
23. Caladon Goes to War
In a small, cosy room, high in the Great Fortress, Tamina was toasting her toes at the fire. Between mouthfuls of mango, she told Roamer, Marengo and Matthias what she had seen at the Castle in the Clouds.
‘How big is their army?’ asked Marengo.
‘Not as big as it would have been before Roamer blew up half their ships,’ said Tamina. ‘But I still couldn’t count it. Well, I never was much good at sums. But they’ve loads more soldiers than we have.’
‘What’s the castle like?’ asked Matthias.
‘Oh, it’s enormous. Perched on a hilltop, just like that old book said, only the hilltop covers a big area, so the castle really is huge. We flew over it several times. The stoats were running round in circles, thinking we were going to attack them. They sent up some vultures to attack us, but we simply climbed higher, until I almost had icicles drooping from my fur. Since vultures can’t climb as high as eagles, they gave up.’
‘Could you draw a plan of the castle?’ asked Roamer.
‘Certainly.’ Matthias brought charcoal and paper and the others watched as the castle came to life under Tamina’s skilful paw.
A long wall ran all the way round the hilltop; high, ruined towers stood at each corner. Other towers jutted out along the sides and a powerful gatehouse stood at one end. Just inside the gatehouse rose a tall, ruined keep and beyond that, Tamina sketched a variety of low buildings, barns, houses, even small fields. ‘It’s almost a town. Plenty of storage space for food, and there’s a well just here, between the gatehouse and the keep. Those fields are completely overgrown, of course; no one had been near the place for years before the stoats arrived. I’m afraid we couldn’t tell where the garden of roses might be.’
‘What’s that?’ asked Roamer. Tamina had drawn a patch of shadow, just outside the wall, at the opposite end from the gatehouse.
‘We were too high to be certain, but we thought it was a deep ravine. Apart from that, the walls simply rise straight from the hilltop, no ledge or anything, except here.’ She put her paw in front of the gatehouse. ‘A narrow track climbs up the hill and ends in a wide space just there. But the stoats could easily shoot down on it from the gatehouse, so that’s not much help.’
‘Are those trees?’ asked Marengo, pointing to one side of the outer wall.
‘Yes. Only two or three, growing out of the hillside, about as high as the wall. It’s a bit ruined just there. Well, the whole place is a ruin, really. But it was so big and strong to begin with that being a ruin doesn’t make much difference.’
‘It is impossible to capture,’ declared Matthias, shaking his head sadly.
‘Difficult, certainly,’ said Marengo.
‘But not impossible,’ said Roamer.
They all rose to their feet as Caladon came in. For a few moments he studied Tamina’s drawing. ‘The ravine on the north side is the key, of course. That and the gatehouse on the south side... and those trees could be useful.’
Roamer and Marengo stared at him in amazement. Caladon laughed. ‘I spent my childhood working out ways of attacking pirate strongholds, pretending I was you, Roamer. I’ve spent all last winter in the mountains, hearing tales of Gideon, Rufus and I don’t know how many other heroes. I ought to be able to see how a castle could be captured by now.’
‘Well, it’s more than I can see,’ smiled the cardinal. ‘But what about the poor country-mice who live nearby?’
‘They’re having a bad time,’ said Tamina. ‘We saw a gang of stoats leave the castle, run down the track and cross the plain to a farm. They just helped themselves to as much food as they could carry. Then they set fire to the place. On our way back, we saw several families of mice, all trudging towards Aramon. We landed and spoke to some of them. They said – ’
‘Go on,’ said Caladon. ‘What did they say?’
Tamina looked embarrassed. ‘Well... they said what was the use of a king who couldn’t protect them? They said they might as well have the Red Duke back again.’
Caladon stared in dismay. ‘They’re right,’ he whispered.
‘No, they’re not!’ cried Tamina. ‘And we told them so! I think the castle can be captured, and I’ll get you that sword if it’s the last thing I do!’
‘Malatesta’s been clever,’ said Marengo. ‘He knows that by raiding the countryside, he forces Caladon to march against him. By ancient custom, the king must defend his subjects. Malatesta’s counting on us exhausting ourselves, trying to capture the castle.’
‘Well, he’s made a mistake,’ said Roamer. ‘Cheer up, Caladon! We’ll get King Vygan’s sword and take the castle!’
Next morning, crowds of cheering mice thronged the North Gate and lined the city walls as Caladon led his army off to war. Spital, Cranberry and Chowdmouse marched proudly with their king; next came Roamer and his buccaneers, followed by Casey and his beavers. Last in line marched Donal and his Red Lancers, who had changed their name to the Mouse Guards Blue, in honour of the blue and silver banner of Carminel. Many young city-mice had joined them, attracted by their smart appearance, and glad that the hated Captain Balbi was no longer with them; he was in prison in the Great Fortress, and was likely to remain there for some time.
A cheer went up as the Eagle Squadron soared into the sky. They circled the city to gain height, then took up an arrowhead formation behind Marengo and Hyperion, circling high above the army to guard against a surprise attack.
Old Matthias had wanted to come too, but Caladon had commanded him to stay behind and look after the city. Besides, the country-mice who were fleeing from Malatesta would soon be arriving and Matthias was the ideal mouse to organise food and shelter for them. He stood outside the gate, his paws raised in blessing as the soldiers marched away.
When the mice had vanished into the distance, old Matthias trudged slowly home to Mankinoles. Something was troubling him; something that the voice had said in the Great Cathedral: Though treason may threaten … Despite the warm sunshine, the old mouse shivered. Flambeau was still at large; and who else would threaten treason but the Red Duke?
24. Flash Flood!
As Caladon’s soldiers marched across fields and pastureland, they met sorrowful groups of country-mice whose homes the stoats had destroyed, trudging wearily towards the safety of Aramon. They stared blankly at the soldiers, wondering how so few could possibly defeat Malatesta’s great army. Some of the younger mice, eager to hit b
ack at the enemy, left their families and joined the Mouse Guards Blue. But most simply trekked on, stunned by what had happened to them.
On the sixth day, the army entered the Downlands. They ran down steep-sided hills and splashed across shallow, gurgling streams until only one valley stood between them and a belt of forest; after that, they would see the Castle in the Clouds. But as Caladon crested the final ridge, he stopped abruptly and sent Spital hurrying back to fetch Roamer and Tamina.
Before them lay a deeper valley than any they had crossed so far. At first, the ground sloped gently. But far below, a fast-flowing river roared along its boulder-strewn bed between high walls of rock. The only way across was by a narrow rope bridge, secured at either end by a wooden post driven into the ground.
‘I don’t fancy our chances on that,’ said Tamina. ‘It looks as if a puff of wind would blow it away.’
‘There are no trees on this side of the valley,’ said Roamer. ‘But on the far side of that ravine, there are plenty, some close to the edge.’ Summoning Casey and the beavers, Roamer asked: ‘Could you two cross that rope contraption and gnaw through a couple of trees on the far side? That would make a safer bridge.’
‘No problem, Cap’n,’ replied Casey.
‘Wait,’ said Caladon. ‘I’ll not ask you to do anything I’d not do myself. I’ll come with you and cross the rope bridge first. Don’t argue, Tamina. I’m going now.’
Followed by his bodyguards and the beavers, Caladon set off down the track. But no sooner had he gone, than Tamina gripped Roamer’s paw in sudden alarm. A squadron of vultures, appearing out of nowhere, was streaking down the valley.
‘Take cover!’ yelled Roamer. The Mouse Guards Blue dodged behind trees or scurried under bushes. But the buccaneers unslung their rifles; they had faced vultures before and did not fear them. As the vultures dived for the ridge, Roamer yelled: ‘Fire!’
A volley crashed out. Through the choking smoke, the mice saw three vultures plummeting into the valley and the rest wheeling away, flying back the way they had come. The Mouse Guards Blue were cheering their heads off. But the buccaneers were swiftly reloading. They knew that the vultures would be back.
The Ruby of Carminel Page 10
