Dragon Rescue by Don Callander

Author:Don Callander [Callander, Don]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Old Place

As Tom and Furbetrance were departing from the edge of Sinking Marsh, Manda and her parents arrived at Overhall, after an unevent-ful overland ride north and west.

They were greeted warmly, and with great relief, by Rosemary of Ffallmar. She’d moved to her father’s castle after Ffallmar and his troops had marched off to lift the siege of Lexor.

“They’ve surrounded poor Lexor!” Rosemary told the King. “The Rellings, I mean. According to the last pigeon-post message we’ve had from your Lord High Chamberlain, the city is yet holding fast...at least as of yesterday morning. They’ve plenty of food and water, according to Walden. The townspeople are manning the wall along with the Royal Guard and maintaining good discipline.”

“Good old Walden!” exclaimed the King with a relieved laugh. “How he’s improved! He used to be such a stuffed shirt, wasn’t he, sweetheart?”

The Queen nodded agreement while handing the sleeping Amelia to Rosemary, who snuggled her down with her own brood in the pleasant nursery atop Middle Tower.

“But, Father, what of Murdan?” asked Manda with concern. “He went ahead alone to Lexor and has since disappeared!”

“So it seems,” said the King, shaking his head. “Certainly Walden would have mentioned the Historian if he were safe in the city.”

“What must we do now?” Beatrix asked after they’d dined and were only waiting for someone to suggest an early bedtime.

“I’ll follow Ffallmar to Lexor,” decided the King. “The levees will expect me there, although Ffallmar of Ffallmar Farm will do perfectly well without my interference, I suspect. Sometimes a King must act the figurehead and let the people who know best work. You and Amelia should stay here, my dear. Overhall is the stoutest and safest castle anywhere in the kingdom.”

“I’ve visited here before,” the Queen reminded her husband, politely covering a deep yawn. “It’ll be as great a pleasure as possible under the circumstances, my dear! Isn’t anyone going to say, ‘Let’s to bed’? I can hardly keep my eyelids from falling shut!”

Eduard saw her abed and already sleeping soundly before he went to look into the nursery for a moment, and to walk the battlements, inspecting Murdan’s orange-liveried Overhall Guard where they stood their posts.

Captain Graham came to him and saluted gravely.

“Bad news, sire!” he announced. “They say Lord Murdan was captured by Rellings and imprisoned on an island in midst of the northern Blue!”

“Who sends this evil news?” cried the King.

“A Relling sergeant was captured by General Ffallmar’s scouts during a sortie from the southwest Lexor gate, sire. He said he was the one who captured my master, and that this leader of theirs, Great Blizzard-maker or whatever, condemned him to death by starving or freezing on an island of ice.”

The two, captain and King, stood in silent commiseration for a long while. A cold wind whipped the castle’s banners and pennants out straight to the east. The chill wind smelled of approaching snow.

“The others can wait until morning to learn of it,” decided the King at last, sadly. “Anything

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