Midwinter Nightingale by Aiken Joan

Author:Aiken, Joan [Aiken, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Europe, Juvenile Nonfiction, England, Action & Adventure, Adventure and Adventurers, Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy & Magic, General, Children's Stories, English, People & Places, Fiction
ISBN: 9780440419280
Publisher: Yearling
Published: 2003-01-02T07:00:00+00:00

rapidly along the corridor by two large male persons; she could not see their faces, for they wore black hoods, but she could tell their sex from their size and voices.

“Where do we take her?” asked one.

“To the conference chamber,” said the other.

Dido wished furiously that while talking to the Woodlouse she had had the sense to ask him to cut through the rope that tied her wrists. But perhaps he wouldn't have had the courage, she thought. Poor little weasel, he seemed to have had all the spunk drained out of him.

The two men climbed a flight of stairs—this was very uncomfortable for Dido, since the edges of the stairs caught her on heels and thighs—and carried her into a large, well-lit room, where they let go of her so that she fell on the floor.

“Stand up,” said one of the men. When Dido did not do so immediately, he kicked her.

“Do as we say, or you'll get worse than that!”

Angrily, Dido scrambled to her feet. She might have said something that would certainly have led to trouble, but at that moment three people came into the room and climbed onto a platform that was between Dido and the immense window, and she was so startled and interested by their appearance that she held her tongue. A man following the three dumped a heavy canvas sack, which sounded as if it held money, on the floor near the platform. Then he left, shutting the door behind him.

The three people consisted of a spotty boy, a hugely fat woman and a white-haired man.

The boy was known to Dido; she remembered having seen him several times at the court of King Richard. His name was Lothar or Lot. And a horrible pest he was, she recalled. Always playing disgusting jokes and making spiteful remarks. He was Queen Adelaide's boy, because she had been married before, and he was sore because he'd never be king. His dad was in prison for something bad. Ask me, thought Dido, King Richard made a rare mistake marrying somebody who had an old husband in jail. He mighta known that would lead to trouble.

The boy Lot was bigger now, and spottier, but otherwise he seemed unchanged. He gave Dido a malicious smirk and said something in a low voice to the fat lady that made her nod with a grim smile.

She'll be the duchess of Burgundy, I reckon, Dido guessed. She remembered Dr. Whitgift saying, “A most evil person. She hates dear King Richard.”

The duchess certainly looked evil. She had a fat pale face and eyes that lacked any expression. They were like two pickled onions, Dido thought, and her mouth was a thin slit, painted bright red, like a line under the wrong answer to a sum. She had a huge white headdress with a central cone from which flapped a muslin veil and two large white wings like elephants' ears. Must be hard to manage in a gale, thought Dido. But I guess she isn't often in a gale.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.