The Orphan King (Merlin's Immortals) by Brouwer Sigmund

Author:Brouwer, Sigmund [Brouwer, Sigmund]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780307730657
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2012-07-10T06:00:00+00:00

During the next half hour of walking, Thomas said little. The knight remained beside him, seeing no need to force conversation. Isabelle still trailed them, showing she had no desire to get nearer to Magnus. Only Tiny John showed enthusiasm, as if they were on an adventure.

“It must be close!” John said. “Let me get on your shoulders, William! I’ll get a good see from there.”

William groaned. “I feel like enough of a packhorse without my steed. To be arrested falsely for a chalice I didn’t steal is one thing. But to lose my horse and armor to those scoundrels …” He caught the anxiety that Thomas betrayed by chewing his lower lip. The knight sighed, a habit he had formed since meeting Thomas. “Tiny John, get on my shoulders, then.” William shook his forefinger hard at the imp. “Without taking a farthing from my pockets. I’ve had enough trouble with you already.”

Tiny John only widened his eternal grin and waved a locket and chain at William, who felt his own neck to reassure himself that it was not his.

“It’s Isabelle’s,” Thomas said. “Tiny John took it from her this morning. I didn’t have the heart to make him give it back yet. And she hasn’t noticed anything all day …”

William kept his face straight. The only reason Thomas would have overseen the theft was because he spent so much time glancing at the girl.

Tiny John tossed the locket to the knight. William glanced at it idly, then felt as if a hand had wrapped around his throat. The symbol!

He knew now who had been sent to spy. The question remained, was she a partner with Thomas? Or was he ignorant of the danger?

“A peculiar cross emblem,” William mumbled as those thoughts raced through his mind. He, too, had learned acting skills. “Nothing I’ve seen before.”

Tiny John did not give him time to finish wondering. He darted to the knight’s back, then scrambled upward to his broad shoulders and shaded his eyes with his left hand to peer northeast into the widening valley.

Tiny John whistled. “I’ve caught the spires! Far, far off! But we can make it by eventide.”

“Only if I carry you, urchin,” William grunted. “And already you’re far too heavy for a knight as old as I.”

Tiny John dropped lightly to the ground and kept pointing. “That way, Thomas! I’m sure I saw the castle that way!”

Thomas said nothing. It was obvious by his eyes that he was mesmerized in thought.

William glanced at the girl, still several hundred yards back. He handed Tiny John the thin chain and locket. “Return this to her. Yet do not let her know that it was on my instructions or that I have seen it. Thus …” The knight searched for an insignificant reason that would not give Tiny John cause to think any more of the incident. “It will appear to her that you have honor, you scoundrel. Then, Tiny John, keep pace! We will do our best to reach Magnus before nightfall.

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